Geschatte leestijd: 2 minutenPeople with severe obesity have a reduced feeling of satiety. The cells responsible for the release of satiety hormones are greatly diminished in severely obese individuals. This is according to Swiss doctors in the journal Scientific Reports.
Satiety Hormone
In the membrane of the upper part of the gastrointestinal tract, a specific type of cells called enteroendocrine cells are found. These cells are constantly analyzing the contents of the intestines. During a meal, they release satiety hormones into the bloodstream. This signals to the central nervous system that enough food has been consumed and that you can stop eating.
Researchers from the universities of Basel and Liverpool conducted research on this decrease in satiety hormones. They compared tissue samples from the gastrointestinal tract of 24 lean volunteers and 30 obese patients before and after undergoing weight loss surgery.
The comparison showed that enteroendocrine cells were present in significantly higher numbers in people with normal weight than in obese individuals. They also observed changes in the pattern of so-called transcription factors responsible for the development of enteroendocrine cells from stem cells in obese individuals.
After the surgery of obese individuals and the subsequent weight loss, the number of enteroendocrine cells increased again, and the pattern of transcription factors was restored.
Satiety Hormone and the Vicious Circle
The researchers point out the stigma of people with overweight; the accusation that they lack self-control. This research is one of many showing that the vicious circle of obesity is partly caused by altered metabolism and satiety sensation. It is easy to look disapprovingly at people who need surgical help to lose weight.
Obesity perpetuates itself in this way by, among other things, lowering your feeling of satiety or increasing your feeling of hunger when you do lose weight. In a previous article on the persistence of fat cells, I also discussed the ‘hunger signals’ that fat cells emit when they shrink during weight loss. The combination of psychological and biological consequences of (the struggle with) obesity sometimes makes surgical intervention necessary to reset some systems, so to speak.
Unfortunately, this reset does not apply to all consequences of (previous obesity), and maintaining a healthy weight will always prove more difficult for people with previous obesity. Prevention is always better than cure.
References
- Bettina K. Wölnerhanssen, Andrew W. Moran, Galina Burdyga, Anne Christin Meyer-Gerspach, Ralph Peterli, Michael Manz, Miriam Thumshirn, Kristian Daly, Christoph Beglinger, Soraya P. Shirazi-Beechey. Deregulation of transcription factors controlling intestinal epithelial cell differentiation; a predisposing factor for reduced enteroendocrine cell number in morbidly obese individuals. Scientific Reports, 2017; 7 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-08487-9
