- New research shows that certain amino acids help people feel fuller longer and so could help us diet.
- Meat, mackerel , almonds and avocados could help us lose weight more easily because they trigger a reaction in the brain which makes us feel fuller.
- Tancytes discovered for the first time. They detect amino acids in food telling the brain how full we feel.
Dieting is the traditional way we all try to lose weight because we want to look good and fit into our clothes, and reduce our risk of developing diseases related to obesity. However, given the range, convenience and abundance of food, it seems our lifestyle which always focusses on feeding ourselves is difficult to achieve. What happens ? We find it so easy to eat too much than we need and we get fat.
New research from the University of Warwick suggests eating foods we think are not as good for us might not be so bad after all. It comes down to amino acids and a not often used term – tancytes.
Firstly, tancytes are special brain cells which are linked to weight management through feelings of fullness or satiation. The discovery of these tanycytes was made by adding two nitrogen rich amino acids, arginine and lysine into brain cells. These particular amino acids were made in a way that made them visible by becoming fluorescent when they reacted with certain parts of a cell. When these amino acids entered brain cells they produced their fluorescence which indicated a response. These were tancytes which control body weight and appetite.
Nicholas Dale, the Pridgeon Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Warwick who is lead author on this recent research claims:-
“Amino acid levels in blood and brain following a meal are a very important signal that imparts the sensation of feeling full. Finding that tanycytes, located at the center of the brain region that controls body weight, directly sense amino acids has very significant implications for coming up with new ways to help people to control their body weight within healthy bounds.”
Obesity is major issue for developed nations and a rising one for any society where food becomes cheaper and easier to obtain. In the United Kingdom, about two-thirds of us are either overweight or obese. In the United States, this figure is even higher and proving a considerable burden on medical services and society as a whole. Being overweight means we risk early death from diseases like diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular or heart disease.
Foods like as pork and beef, chicken, mackerel, fruits like plums and apricots, avocados, lentils, and almonds all contain naturally higher levels of arginine and lysine than others. These foods are often consumed to help us reduce our hunger (incidentally so do extracts from Caralluma and Hoodia spp.) because we feel fuller much quicker. The biochemical targeting of certain cells implies there is more to that 5th sensation called umami. It implies that ‘flavour’ from various foods like meats and fruits like avocado could be a greater friend to us. It certainly means we don’t need to consume just salad to lose weight.
If it’s possible to target body mechanisms which control our appetite then it should be a significant focus for research. No doubt product developers would develop foods which satisfy these particular cells, the tancytes, to then help us control our food intake. In this way, we could eat less food because our desire for it is lessened. What a benefit !
The research was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.
The article has been prepared from notes contained in a press release by the University of Warwick.
Reference
Lazutkaite, G., Solda, A., Lossow, K., Meyerhof, W., Dale, N. (2017)Amino acid sensing in hypothalamic tancytes via umami taste receptors. Molecular Metabolism. 543 Early publication. http://www.molmetab.com/article/S2212-8778(17)30537-9/pdf
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