Lame metabolism The overweight lack of satiety hormones

People who are overweight have too few cells with satiety hormones
In the development of obesity, several factors play a role, including a reduced feeling of satiety in people with a strong overweight. Affected people can eat significantly more than their normal-weight people, without getting full. Scientists at the University of Basel have now discovered the reason for this: overweight people lack satiety hormones.

The researchers report that in the overweight, much less saturated hormones are released as in normal weight, as the responsible cells in the gastrointestinal tract of obese are massively reduced. By a weight-reducing surgery, this disorder can be resolved, explain the doctors. The researchers published their latest study results in the scientific journal "Scientific Reports".

People with obesity lack the satiety hormones and thus the natural eating brake. (Image: tortoon / fotolia.com)

Enteroendocrine cells are crucial
The so-called enteroendocrine cells sit in the mucosa of the upper gastrointestinal tract and continuously analyze the intestinal contents, the researchers explain. During a meal, these highly specialized cells release the satiety hormones into the bloodstream, signaling the body "that enough food has been delivered and the meal can be stopped," the experts explain. The feeling of being full arises in the central nervous system.

Reduced release of saturation messengers
However, in strongly overweight people, according to the researchers, the release of satiety messengers compared to normal-weight people is reduced. The reason for this is the research team led by Dr. Ing. Bettina Wölnerhanssen from the Department of Biomedicine at the University and the University Hospital Basel, together with colleagues from Claraspitals Basel and the University of Liverpool, have now followed up. "Gastrointestinal tract samples were taken from the gastrointestinal tract of 24 normal weight patients and 30 very obese patients before and after a weight-reducing procedure," reports the University of Basel

Number of enteroendocrine cells reduced
The analysis showed that the number of enteroendocrine cells in the overweight was significantly lower than in normal weight, which is why it comes to a reduced release of satiety hormones and thus to a change in appetite behavior, the researchers report. In obese individuals, the composition of the so-called transcription factors responsible for the formation of enteroendocrine cells from stem cells had also been altered.

Changes in metabolism in overweight
"Unfortunately, overweight patients are often stigmatized by saying they lack self-control and lack of eating discipline," Dr. Wölnerhanssen. However, the current study results are evidence that changes in the metabolism in obesity undoubtedly also play an important role. According to the expert, the current study has shown that there are structural differences between normal weight and overweight that may explain the lack of satiety of obese people.

The fate of those affected, however, is by no means fixed, because according to the researchers, the number of enteroendocrine cells and the composition of the transcription factors after a weight-reducing surgery, such as gastric bypass surgery or peritoneal surgery has recovered almost completely. (Fp)