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Exercise May Help You Lose Weight

Posted July 11, 2008 at 01:30 PM by Donnell Peavy

Section: In The News, His Health, Lifestyle Health

Okay…so that’s not exactly new news. We have known for eons that exercising provides numerous health benefits, one of which is weight loss through the burning of calories. What is new, however is the notion that exercising may also be a catalyst for increased production of a protein known as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which may be an appetite suppressant.

Dr. A. Veronica Araya of the University of Chile Clinical Hospital conducted a study on fifteen overweight men and women in which BDNF levels were checked prior to beginning and exercise program and again 3 months into the program. The test showed that test subjects had a significant reduction in body fat and waist size and lower blood pressure, as was to be expected. What was also found, however, was that subjects reported a decrease in their appetite, and that their BDNF levels were elevated. Dr. Henry Anhalt of the Animas Corporation theorizes that BDNF may act as an appetite suppressant. “The reduction in calorie intake could be related to the effect of BDNF,” he says. “...however, this was not directly tested.”

The Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Studies at Tufts University School in Boston has been conducting BDNF research as well. They noted that in mice whose BDNF gene was deleted ate more and became much heavier than mice whose BDNF gene was intact. This provides evidence that a “fat gene” may actually exist. One third of the American population is obese; it is estimated that one fourth of the US population has mutated BDNF.

Research sources and for more information: [LA Health News]

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Tags: appetite suppression, bdnf, brain derived neurotrophic factor, donnell peavy, donnellpeavy, fat gene

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