Article from Vital Choices Newsletter
Saturated fat abundant in butter, cheese, milk and beef is seen to block fullness signals sent from rats' brains via appetite hormones
by Craig Weatherby
While the basic physiology of rodents and humans is very similar, the two species can differ significantly when it comes to weight control.
So it's smart to take weight control experiments in rodents with a grain of salt, so to speak.
But the results of a recent rat study seem to dovetail with a very human experience... that is, bingeing on burgers and ice cream seems to beget more burger-and-ice cream bingeing.
The findings from Texas suggest that we may be able to blame our bodies' reaction to a particular saturated fat - palmitic acid, which abounds in beef and dairy - for sabotaging efforts to get back on track after enjoying its major food sources ... such as beef burgers and ice cream.
So it's smart to take weight control experiments in rodents with a grain of salt, so to speak.
But the results of a recent rat study seem to dovetail with a very human experience... that is, bingeing on burgers and ice cream seems to beget more burger-and-ice cream bingeing.
The findings from Texas suggest that we may be able to blame our bodies' reaction to a particular saturated fat - palmitic acid, which abounds in beef and dairy - for sabotaging efforts to get back on track after enjoying its major food sources ... such as beef burgers and ice cream.
Scientists from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center suggest that the specific saturated fat called palmitic acid causes rats' cells to ignore any appetite-suppressing signals received via the key weight-regulation hormones called leptin and insulin (Benoit SC et al. 2009).
