Hopes for the obese – New Zealand doctors say obesity can be controlled

#obesity #type2diabetes #otagouniversity #chineseherbalmedicine Kiwi scientists have, in a research led by Dr Alex Tups, of the Otago University's Centre for Neuroendocrinology and Department of Physiology, claim to have found a curious new way to combat obesity and Type 2 Diabetes as reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 2 February 2015. The solution is to go in for an antioxidant linked to Chinese medicine.
They conducted trials on mice and have suggested that butein, derived from plants used in traditional Chinese herbal medicine, can be used to put an end to diet-driven processes in the brain that lead to obesity.
The study centered on a portion of the brain called the hypothalamus, which is linked to the nervous system and helps regulate many important functions including sleep, heart rate, body temperature, appetite, and body weight.
The team wanted to find out if by directly stopping inflammatory processes in the hypothalamus caused by a high fat diet it could help lower blood sugar levels and reduce insulin resistance.
They took hold obese mice and discovered that by administering butein either directly into the brain or orally greatly improved glucose tolerance and brain insulin signaling.
The results are promising – butein resulted in the high-fat diet mice reducing body weight, building up less fat, expending more energy, and showing evidence of improved leptin-signaling.