this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2023
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Brain's Weight Switch Found: May Let Us Eat What We Want, Finally (neurosciencenews.com)
submitted 1 year ago by will_a113@lemmy.ml to c/science@beehaw.org
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A new discovery reveals that astrocytes, star-shaped cells in the brain, play a key role in regulating fat metabolism and obesity. These cells act on a cluster of neurons, known as the GABRA5 cluster, effectively acting as a “switch” for weight regulation.

The MAO-B enzyme in these astrocytes was identified as a target for obesity treatment, influencing GABA secretion and thus weight regulation.

KDS2010, a selective and reversible MAO-B inhibitor, successfully led to weight loss in obese mice without impacting their food intake, even while consuming a high-fat diet, and is now in Phase 1 clinical trials.

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[–] jarfil@beehaw.org 29 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

The Romans called it "eat what you want, go vomit, keep eating", nowadays we call that bulimia, coming soon: "eat what you want, take a pill, keep eating"... somehow makes me think that might not be healthy either.

[–] Thorny_Thicket@sopuli.xyz 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's actually a myth.

Macrobius uses the plural vomitoria to refer to the passages through which spectators could “spew forth” into their seats at public entertainment venues. Vomitorium/vomitoria are still used today by archaeologists as architectural terms.

Source

[–] jarfil@beehaw.org 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

It's not about Macrobius and the misinterpretation of Vomitoria, but about how Romans threw lavish banquets as a status symbol:

https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/ancient-roman-feasting-history/index.html

Men eating reclined, for many hours on end, doing their necessities right at the table, getting served by slaves and women, throwing rests of food on the floor, purging (vomiting) between courses just to continue eating, with women kneeling or sitting beside them.

And then there were Bacchanalia, but those were more about drinking and sex... so not that far from modern uncontrolled parties, only now we have better drugs.

[–] Obi@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 year ago

Yep, the Romans really knew how to party.