Obesity is now one of the world\u2019s biggest health challenges. Nearly 900 million adults worldwide are living with obesity, driving up rates of diabetes, heart disease, and certain cancers.<\/p>\n
Traditional weight\u2011loss methods<\/a> often don\u2019t deliver lasting results, so researchers are searching for new answers. One promising option is GLP\u20111 drugs, which help people lose weight more effectively than older treatments. But there\u2019s a catch: these medicines also lower the body\u2019s natural calorie burn, and scientists still don\u2019t know what that means for long\u2011term health.<\/p>\n Researchers are searching for new ways to help the body burn more energy. A recent study from the University of Southern Denmark asked a bold question: Can diet alone switch on thermogenesis, the process by which the body burns calories<\/a> by producing heat?<\/p>\n We already know one natural trick: cold exposure. Shivering may be uncomfortable, but it forces the body to crank up its calorie burn<\/a> to stay warm. Decades of research show that both mice and humans use more energy in the cold, thanks to the activation of special heat\u2011producing fat cells.<\/p>\n Research identifies the body\u2019s reaction to seven days fasting<\/a><\/p>\n Now, researchers are exploring whether diet could mimic this effect, turning meals into a metabolic spark plug that helps fight obesity.<\/p>\n In this study, researchers focused on reducing the levels of two amino acids in food: methionine and cysteine. These building blocks of protein play many roles in the body, from making proteins and regulating genes to protecting DNA, balancing oxidation, and fueling energy production.<\/p>\n Animal\u2011based foods like meat, eggs, and dairy are packed with methionine and cysteine. In contrast, plant\u2011based foods<\/a> such as vegetables, nuts, and legumes contain much lower amounts. Interestingly, plant-rich diets have long been linked to healthier aging<\/a>.<\/p>\n That means vegetarians and vegans, by avoiding animal products, naturally eat less methionine and cysteine than people who regularly consume meat. This difference may help explain why plant\u2011based diets are often associated with better long\u2011term health outcomes.<\/p>\n Drinking a cup of coffee could tackle obesity<\/a><\/p>\n A team of researchers has discovered that tweaking diet can be nearly as effective as living in constant cold to burn calories. In experiments with mice, diet\u2011induced thermogenesis, triggered by lowering two amino acids, methionine and cysteine, produced almost the same weight loss as keeping the animals at a chilly 5 \u00b0C around the clock.<\/p>\n Working with colleagues Aylin G\u00fcller, Marcus Rosendahl, and Natasa Stanic, the team adjusted amino acid levels<\/a> in the mice\u2019s food over seven days. The results were striking: mice on the low\u2011methionine, low\u2011cysteine diet burned more calories than those on a standard diet.<\/p>\n Lead researcher Jan\u2011Wilhelm Kornfeld explained: \u201cThe mice that burned the most energy ate the same amount of food as the others, and they didn\u2019t move more or less. We saw a 20% increase in their thermogenesis. They lost more weight, and it was not because they ate less or exercised more; they simply generated more heat.\u201d<\/p>\n The extra calorie burn came from beige fat, a special fat under the skin that can switch into heat mode. It\u2019s the same fat that fires up when you\u2019re shivering in the cold, and in this study, it lit up during both diet\u2011induced and cold\u2011induced thermogenesis.<\/p>\n Weight loss\u00a0secret: It\u2019s not just what you eat, but how it\u2019s made<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThis tells us that beige fat doesn\u2019t care whether the burning is triggered by cold or by diet,\u201d says<\/a> Philip Ruppert.<\/p>\n Ruppert, a molecular biologist with a PhD, was at SDU when the study was performed and is now at Cornell University in New York.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know from other studies that vegetarians and vegans are, in several respects, healthier than meat-eaters. We haven\u2019t tested a methionine\/cysteine-restricted diet in humans, only in mice, so we can\u2019t say for certain that the same effect would occur in people \u2014 but it\u2019s absolutely a possibility,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Researchers believe the next frontier is finding safe ways to boost the body\u2019s calorie burn without demanding big lifestyle changes. One idea is to design functional foods naturally low in methionine and cysteine.<\/p>\n \u201cIt would also be interesting to study whether Wegovy patients experience additional weight loss if they switch to a diet without the amino acids methionine and cysteine \u2014 in other words, a diet free of animal proteins,\u201d says Kornfeld.<\/p>\n This discovery suggests that well-designed diets might someday match the calorie-burning effects of cold exposure. This could provide new methods to combat obesity without the discomfort of cold temperatures.<\/p>\n Journal Reference:<\/p>\n Philip MM Ruppert, Aylin S G\u00fcller, Marcus Rosendal, Natasa Stanic, and Jan-Wilhelm Kornfeld. Dietary sulfur amino acid restriction elicits a cold-like transcriptional response in inguinal but not epididymal white adipose tissue of male mice. eLife. DOI: 10.7554\/eLife.108825.1<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Obesity is now one of the world\u2019s biggest health challenges. 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