Researchers at McMaster University have found that the hormone GDF15, previously associated with metformin’s loss of appetite, may also help with weight loss by maintaining metabolism while dieting. This may lead to improved weight loss regimens and provide insight into individual differences in diet success.
Research is opening up new possibilities to help maintain weight loss after dieting.
Researchers led by McMaster University Professor Gregory Steinberg and Postdoctoral Fellow Dongdong Wang have discovered an important mechanism for promoting weight loss and sustaining calorie burn while dieting.
The research team studied a hormone called GDF15 that was previously shown to reduce appetite in response to the type 2 diabetes drug metformin. Their latest research results Nature On June 28th, it was shown that GDF15 may also help with weight loss.
The study opens up new possibilities for helping people maintain weight loss after dieting, as well as developing combination therapies with GDF15 and currently available drugs that suppress appetite and promote further weight loss. It opens up possibilities. Obesity is a global concern that affects one billion people and is associated with many metabolic diseases, including type 2 diabetes. It has been the subject of research on effective weight loss methods.
Dongdong Wang, lead author and postdoctoral fellow, and Gregory Steinberg, professor of medicine at McMaster University and co-director of the Center for Metabolism, Obesity and Diabetes Research at McMaster University.Credit: McMaster University
“In mice, we found that GDF15 prevents the metabolic decline that occurs during dieting by promoting the wasted circulation of calcium in muscles,” said Steinberg, a professor at McMaster University School of Medicine and co-director of the Metabolic Center. ‘He said. , obesity and diabetes research.
“Our study highlights that the hormone GDF15 may not only reduce the desire to eat fatty foods, but at the same time enhance muscle energy burning.”
Caloric restriction initially leads to weight loss, but the body’s metabolism eventually slows this process down, making it less effective. However, the study showed that mice treated with GDF15 continued to lose weight while consuming the same calories as controls. This increased energy burn occurred in muscle, but not adipose tissue.
Steinberg said further studies are needed to confirm these findings in humans. He said that understanding how GDF15 levels affect muscle energy burning in humans could help explain why people have varying degrees of success in losing weight on a diet. said there is.
Further research on GDF15 may provide a new way to help those struggling to lose weight on conventional diets, and may provide benefits for recently approved appetite suppressants that target the GLP1 receptor. There is also the possibility of expansion.
Reference: “GDF15 Promotes Weight Loss by Increasing Muscle Energy Expenditure” (Dongdong Wang, Logan K. Townsend, Geneviève J. DesOrmeaux, Sara M. Frangos, Battsetseg Batchuluun, Lauralyne Dumont, Rune Ehrenreich Kuhre, Elham Ahmadi , Sumei Hu, Irena) A. Rebarka, Jaya Gautam, Maria Joy Thérèse Jabire, Chantal A. Pillege, Sonia Lejar, Eric M. Desjardins, Evangelia E. Tzakiridis, James SV Larry, Emma Sarah Jurassic, A. Russell Tapling, Herzel C. Gerstein, Guillaume Palais, Theodoros Tsakiridis, Mary Ellen Harper, Thomas J. Hawke, John R. Speakman, Dennis P. Blondin, Graham P. Holloway, Sebastian Beck Jorgensen, Gregory R. Steinberg, 28 June 2023, Nature.
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06249-4
This analysis of the effect of GDF15 on weight loss is the result of a collaboration between Novo Nordisk and researchers in Ottawa, Waterloo, Sherbrooke, Beijing and Guelph.
This study was funded in part by the Canadian Diabetes Association, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and Novo Nordisk.
