Liver can control weight gain
The research suggests that the liver is in fact a major player in controlling weight gain, and its role needs to be better understood. Image: Wragg/iStockphoto Researchers from the University of Melbourne and Austin Health have come one step closer to understanding how our bodies regulate fat and weight gain. Dr Barbara Fam from the University’s Molecular Obesity Laboratory group at Austin Health with Associate Professor Sof Andrikopoulos have discovered that the liver can directly talk to the brain to control the amount of food we eat. The results have demonstrated that the liver, which has never been classed as an important organ in controlling body weight before, is in fact a major player and should be considered a target for treatment of weight gain.Test on mice showed that over-expression of a specific enzyme in the liver resulted in 50% less fat and the subjects ate less food than mice without the...