Credit: Nuts
Turns out the odds are stacked against us.
The battle over weight loss is something that has existed for thousands of years. With more and more fast-food restaurants opening up around the globe, it is difficult for people to stay away from the junk food that is prepared in a snap. But as we age it becomes more and more difficult to lose weight. Most people attribute that to the decrease in activity levels, but some researchers beg to differ.
Research over in Sweden recently uncovered that the lipid turnover in fat tissue decreases during the aging process, which makes it easier to gain weight. This happens even if we don’t eat more or exercise less.
Fat cells were studied in 54 men and women over a 13 year period. All of these people showed decreases in lipid turnover in the fat tissue, regardless if they gained or lost weight. People who didn’t compensate for this lipid turnover by reducing their calorie intake gained weight by an average of 20%.
Researchers also looked at women who underwent bariatric surgery and if the lipid turnover had any effect on them post-surgery. Women who had a low rate before the surgery were able to increase their lipid turnover and sustain weight loss. It is believed that they may have had more room to increase their lipid turnover.
This evidence appears to confirm the notion that our fat tissue regulates changes in our body weight. This knowledge could help researchers find a way to combat obesity. One way to speed up lipid turnover is to keep physically active, which is just a generally good idea in life anyway.
