Findings could lead to new, more effective therapies for managing diabetes
Scientists at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA have discovered a key biological reason why obesity increases the risk of Type 2 diabetes, and it boils down to size — specifically the size of fat cells. (more…)
ANN ARBOR — It’s obvious that the taste buds on the tongue can detect sugar. And after a meal, beta cells in the pancreas sense rising blood glucose and release the hormone insulin—which helps the sugar enter cells, where it can be used by the body for energy. (more…)
Using a recently developed biomarker of aging known as an epigenetic clock, UCLA researchers working closely with a German team of investigators have found for the first time that obesity greatly accelerates aging of the liver. This finding could explain the early onset of many age-related diseases, including liver cancer, in people who are obese. (more…)
From Parkinson’s to obesity, the School of Kinesiology is using exercise as a prescription to make a difference in people’s lives.
In the dim light of a School of Kinesiology lab, infrared light-sensitive tape glows on a dozen points of a subject’s body, like stars of a constellation. While she moves, these anatomical landmarks are tracked 200 times per second, appearing on a screen behind her. (more…)
AUSTIN, Texas — If you live in the South and have trouble exercising during the muggy summer months, you’re not alone. New research by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin has found that adults are less physically active — and more obese — in counties where summers are hot, especially if they are also humid or rainy. (more…)
Being overweight makes people tired and sedentary — not the other way around
A new UCLA psychology study provides evidence that being overweight makes people tired and sedentary — not the other way around.
Life scientists led by UCLA’s Aaron Blaisdell placed 32 female rats on one of two diets for six months. The first, a standard rat’s diet, consisted of relatively unprocessed foods like ground corn and fish meal. The ingredients in the second were highly processed, of lower quality and included substantially more sugar — a proxy for a junk food diet. (more…)
Researchers find first evidence of fat-regulating hormone in avian species
Since leptin was discovered 20 years ago, more than 115,000 papers have been published on this protein in humans, and another 5,000 have appeared on leptin in mice.
Leptin’s popularity is not surprising, as the hormone is the principal marker for the development of morbid obesity in humans. Leptin and its receptor play critical roles in the control of food intake and energy expenditure, thereby affecting body weight, abdominal fatness, thermogenesis, insulin sensitivity, and lipid metabolism. (more…)
Taichi Suzuki, an Evolutionary Biologist, is currently involved in PhD program in Integrative Biology at the University of California Berkeley. He received his Bachelor’s degree from the Nihon University in Japan and completed Master’s in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at The University of Arizona. He is also associated with Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at UC Berkeley. (more…)
