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Fat enzyme explains why some people don't get flabby

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Ripclawe

Banned
Awesome.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/h...explains-why-some-people-dont-get-flabby.html

The enzyme, MGAT2, determines whether dietary fat is used to generate energy or stored under the skin around the waist. The discovery of its role could be the key to preventing obesity, diabetes and heart disease

Scientists found that mice missing the gene for MGAT2 were able to feast on a high fat diet without becoming flabby or overweight.

Mice lacking MGAT2 were also protected against glucose intolerance - a precursor to diabetes - high cholesterol and a build up of fat in liver cells.

Enzymes are biological catalysts that are essential for numerous biological functions.

MGAT2 is one of three MGAT enzymes found in the intestines of both mice and humans. Cutting MGAT activity with drugs could be another way to combat obesity, the scientists believe.

Dr Robert Farese, from the University of California at San Francisco, and colleagues, reduced MGAT activity in mice by more than half by knocking out MGAT2.

On a low fat diet, the mice developed in just the same way as normal animals. But on a 60 per cent fat diet, they gained much less weight.

After 16 weeks, the experimental mice weighed 40 per cent less than mice with functioning MGAT2 genes and the amount of fat they carried was more than 50 per cent lower.

Further studies showed that mice lacking MGAT2 had less insulin in their blood and better glucose tolerance after prolonged high-fat feeding than normal mice.

They also had reduced concentrations of harmful cholesterol in their blood. A high level of low density lipoprotein (LDL), known as "bad", cholesterol, is a major risk factor for heart disease.

A chief reason for the current obesity epidemic is thought to be that the human body still behaves as it did many thousands of years ago when food was far more scarce.

The excess calories eaten today are stored away as fat to help in leaner times which never arrive. MGAT enzymes appear to play an important role in this energy storage process.


Reporting their findings in the journal Nature Medicine, the researchers wrote: "Our studies identify MGAT2 as a key determinant of energy metabolism in response to dietary fat and suggest that the inhibition of this enzyme may prove to be a useful strategy for treating obesity and other metabolic diseases associated with excessive fat intake."
 

SnakeXs

about the same metal capacity as a cucumber
When can we begin injecting this directly into ourselves and eat all we want and all be chiseled sexy beasts?
 

DanteFox

Member
That's not fair. :mad:
I clearly don't have those enzymes because I have to watch whatever I eat just to break even.
 

woodchuck

Member
they should genotype sylvester stallone to see if he has a functional mutation for this enzyme. dude looks cut as hell at 60 years old
 

draven

Member
How do you pronounce "MGAT2"?

movie_haircuts_3.jpg

Todd! Are you not aware that I get farty and bloated with a foamy latte?
 

Skittleguy

Ring a Bell for me
Hmmm...

Alpha-1,6-mannosyl-glycoprotein 2-beta-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase

Catalyzes the reaction:
UDP-N-acetyl-D-glucosamine + 6-(alpha-D-mannosyl)-beta-D-mannosyl-R <=> UDP + 6-(2-(N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminyl)-alpha-D-mannosyl)-beta-D-mannosyl-R

It appears be a deciding step in glycan biosynthesis according to KEGG.
 
SnakeXs said:
When can we begin injecting this directly into ourselves and eat all we want and all be chiseled sexy beasts?


can you imagine a world like that? It'd be like Garden of Eden. Fitness models running around everywhere.
 

Thaedolus

Member
You guys need to read closer: having MGAT2 is what causes your body to store fat. Lacking it is what causes you to stay lean, which makes a "solution" probably a little more difficult.
 

SS4Gogita

Henshin!
Skittleguy said:
Hmmm...

Alpha-1,6-mannosyl-glycoprotein 2-beta-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase

Catalyzes the reaction:
UDP-N-acetyl-D-glucosamine + 6-(alpha-D-mannosyl)-beta-D-mannosyl-R <=> UDP + 6-(2-(N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminyl)-alpha-D-mannosyl)-beta-D-mannosyl-R

It appears be a deciding step in glycan biosynthesis according to KEGG.

<Piccolo> NERD
 

DanteFox

Member
Teh Hamburglar said:
can you imagine a world like that? It'd be like Garden of Eden. Fitness models running around everywhere.
No doubt drug companies would capitalize off of it like they do with insulin. But yeah that'd be amazing. =D
 

cashman

Banned
Thaedolus said:
You guys need to read closer: having MGAT2 is what causes your body to store fat. Lacking it is what causes you to stay lean, which makes a "solution" probably a little more difficult.
seriously read people.

SRG01 said:
How does that even translate to MGAT2?
Alpha-1,6-mannosyl-glycoprotein 2-beta-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase
 

Kinitari

Black Canada Mafia
Uhhh, as far as I understand, it's not that the enzyme keeps you skinny, it's that the enzyme stores fat. Those without the gene for it don't get fat as easy.

So if anything, the people with these gene would need it like... removed.
 

Danielsan

Member
I think I already lack this enzyme. :)
I used to eat all kinds of terribly unhealthy food, I never exercised and yet I never got fat.
I started eating a bit healthier the last few years and even though I wasn't even close to overweight I lost 10kg. I'm now 1.81m tall and I weigh around 68-69kg. I don't even eat that healthy and I still never work out. :lol
 

notsol337

marked forever
DanteFox said:
No doubt drug companies would capitalize off of it like they do with insulin. But yeah that'd be amazing. =D

It'd get boring. If everyone was all "I AM THE PEAK OF FITNESS" the lackluster variety would drive me nuts.

I'd stay chubby, dammit.
 

Crayon Shinchan

Aquafina Fanboy
Someone writing a book mentioning elves (tolkien style) said something along the lines of;

"It was impossible for the elves to be anything but tall and willowy. In the same way it was impossible for hippos to be anything but big and blubbery."

That particular idea has stuck with me quite hard and fast.


In the future, the ability to retain fat will be handy. Less caloric energy required. Who cares when its all going to be fed to you intraveneously, while you pig out on virtual food that satiates your senses, but doesn't mess with your body.
 

nyong

Banned
This thing is like the holy grail of the food industry. You can only sell people so much food (well, some people). If everyone had the ability to eat as much as they wanted without putting on weight, profits would sky-rocket for junk food manufacturers.
 

Shiggie

Member
cashman said:
seriously read people.


Alpha-1,6-mannosyl-glycoprotein 2-beta-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase
Awwwh forget it guys its only in beta.
Release date will probably get pushed back.
 
Eh, I've read similar stories before with mice. They used to think that Leptin would make you thin. Mice which were genetically modified by knocking out the Leptin gene, became really obese. Once they started giving them leptin, they became thin again. Well, when they actually did the study on humans, they found that obese humans actually have high levels of leptin in their blood. So in other words, wait for the human studies to be done.
 

sk3

Banned
Theoretically, there must be a way to change someone's metabolic rate, right? So couldn't you just get a drug that increases your BMR/RMR and burns fat like a mofo?
 
sk3 said:
Theoretically, there must be a way to change someone's metabolic rate, right? So couldn't you just get a drug that increases your BMR/RMR and burns fat like a mofo?
Sure, you can do things like uncouple your mitochondria from the energy producing mechanism, effectively making them run in place. Safety is another story, though.
 

MrFingers

Member
sk3 said:
Theoretically, there must be a way to change someone's metabolic rate, right? So couldn't you just get a drug that increases your BMR/RMR and burns fat like a mofo?

I think these actually already exist,but when you burn calories you produce heat so it would just cook you and then you could eat yourself but you'd still be fat.

There's another compund called DNP iirc but that is a metabolic posion so will fuck you up good.
 
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