fat

The “my cat is fat” problem is so common that the industry has come up with an idea: “Ozempic for cats”

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In just a few years, drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy or Mounjaro have gone from being discreet treatments for diabetes to become a great social phenomenon. His promise—lose weight through a simple weekly injection—has opened a new chapter in human medicine. Now, this pharmacological revolution is beginning to expand beyond people: cats could be the next to receive an adapted version of these treatments. Goodbye fat cats. Okava Pharmaceuticals, a San Francisco company dedicated to chronic diseases in companion animals, has started a pioneering clinical trial called MEOW-1whose objective is to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of OKV-119, a subdermal implant capable of releasing exenatide—a GLP-1 agonist—sustained for months in overweight or obese cats. The intervention aims to simplify a treatment that, in humans, usually requires weekly injections. Here, everything comes down to a single gesture. “You insert the capsule under the skin, and six months later you come back, and the cat has lost weight. It’s like magic,” says Chen Gilor, the veterinarian responsible for the study. speaking to the New York Times. A pioneering study. Okava’s interests did not arise out of nowhere. Prior to MEOW-1, the company evaluated prototypes of the implant in two preliminary studies. A work published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science demonstrated that the OKV-119 implant could be easily implanted and removed, that it was well tolerated, and that its plasma levels of exenatide correlated with weight reduction in healthy cats for more than one month. Subsequently, research published in BMC Veterinary Research delved into this line: they implanted five cats with the designed prototype for 84 days, what they observed is that during that period stable levels of exenatide were maintained and four of them reduced at least 5% of their body weight, along with a lower caloric intake. These results motivated the move to a trial in real obese cats, which Okava plans to run this summer. According to the companyMEOW-1 will be the first formal feline weight loss study based on GLP-1 agonists. How does the implant work? OKV-119 uses the NanoPortal platformdeveloped by Vivani Medical. According to scientific studiesthis technology uses: a titanium reservoir, a membrane with nanotubes that regulate the passage of the drug, and a system designed to ensure a constant and prolonged release without pronounced peaks. Furthermore, this type of administration allows us to overcome the main difficulty associated with GLP-1 in veterinary medicine: lack of adherence. Studies indicate that giving repeated injections to a cat is complex, stressful and can drastically reduce the continuity of treatment, ithe same as what happens in people with injectable drugs. The implant seeks to solve that problem with an approach one-and-done: a subdermal insertion in a veterinary office, without daily intervention by the caregiver. According to The New York Timesthere are veterinarians who already use human GLP-1 agonists off-label in diabetic cats, but its cost and need for frequent administration limit its use. Hence the relevance of a device that could keep the medication active for half a year. But only in cats? Although MEOW-1 focuses exclusively on felines, Okava and Vivani have confirmed an expansion of the project to dogs, another species with obesity rates greater than 50% in the United States. The company states that its goal is to reproduce in dogs the metabolic effects observed in cats: improved insulin sensitivity, reduction in fat mass and greater energy efficiency. With the expectation that these changes may even promote healthier aging. With both markets, the commercial potential is evident. According to estimates collected in Xatakathe global human obesity drug sector could exceed $100 billion by 2030. Veterinary medicine would be a new frontier. Feline obesity is a global epidemic. The interest in an “Ozempic for cats” is not a whim. It is an answer to a growing problem. A review published in Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery places the prevalence of feline overweight between 40% and 63%, although it continues to increase. When you ask veterinariansthe same patterns almost always appear: cats that live exclusively indoors, very little movement, food available all day, too many treats, sterilization and a very common problem: many owners are not aware that their cat is gaining weight. The consequences are not minor: insulin resistance, diabetes, joint problems, urinary diseases, anesthetic complications and liver disorders, in addition to a reduction in life expectancy. And the latest evidence goes even further. A proteomic analysis that evaluated 288 proteins in cats with obesity found important changes in inflammatory processes, in the complement system, in coagulation pathways and in lipid metabolism. In other words, feline obesity affects the entire organism, it is not just a “fat cat.” Many open questions. Although MEOW-1 is moving forward with positive expectations, mass adoption of an “Ozempic for cats” is far from a fact. The first unknown is the price. In humans, GLP-1 cost several hundred euros a month, and it is not clear whether a semi-annual release veterinary implant will really be affordable for the majority of caregivers. Cost could become the main barrier to entry, especially considering that feline obesity is a common problem, but not always perceived as a health priority. The second uncertainty has to do with the available scientific evidence. So far, studies on OKV-119 have been preliminary and with extremely small samples (between 5 and 15 cats). They work, yes, but we still don’t know what will happen on a large scale, or how animals with diseases or in varied home environments will respond. Finally, there is the question of scientific independence. For now, all published studies on OKV-119 come from teams linked to Okava or Vivani, the companies developing the implant. There is no independent, large-scale evidence, and this matches a pattern already observed in human GLP-1where much of the initial research is driven by the industry itself. A new era in feline medicine? The questions surrounding this new milestone in the treatment of feline obesity are piling up: will these preliminary results be enough to justify regulatory approval? Will caregivers change … Read more

Green tea has always been thought to be good for losing fat. Now we know why

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Green tea has been known for centuries for its antioxidant properties and medicinal, and modern science has therefore wanted to investigate whether it really has clear effects on metabolic diseases important such as diabetes or obesity. Now, a new study published in Cell wanted to delve deeper into its mechanisms and reveals that green tea significantly improves glucose sensitivity in obese mice. The diet. To reach these conclusions, the research team put mice on a high-fat diet for four weeks to induce obesity. After this time, they divided the animals: one group continued with the high-fat diet and received a standardized green tea extract (500 mg per kg of body weight), while another group received only water. A third control group consumed a normal diet for comparison. The temperature. The key to the study, and what differentiates it from many others, was temperature control. Mice were maintained in a “thermoneutrality” environment at 28°C. This is crucial because the usual laboratory temperature (about 22 °C) means cold stress for the mice, which forces them to spend more energy to stay warm and therefore lose ‘artificial’ weight. This extra energy expenditure can mask the true effects of the substance studied, such as green tea in this case. In this way, by eliminating this factor, scientists were able to “cleanly” observe the real impact of green tea. The result. They confirmed the powerful effect of green tea on weight control and metabolic health. According to a previous study by the same group, obese mice treated with green tea reduced their body weight by up to 30%, a very significant result. In the current research, it was noted that the treatment “effectively prevented body weight gain.” But in addition to the weight, which can be very good, the most interesting thing is undoubtedly the ability of green tea to make the body better manage blood sugar. Obese mice treated with the extract were seen to restore their glucose levels to levels similar to those of healthy mice, as demonstrated by glucose and insulin tolerance tests (GTT and ITT). Although if you look at the fasting values ​​there are also important changes, since the treated mice had lower sugar values ​​than the obese mice that were not treated. Protective effect. One of the most notable findings was the effect protector on muscle mass. Obesity usually causes a reduction in the diameter of muscle fibers (atrophy), but the study revealed that green tea not only prevented this deterioration, but caused a “significant increase in the cross-sectional area of ​​muscle fibers.” This suggests that green tea protects muscle from the harmful effects of obesity. The mechanism. There are several systems to understand why these effects occur in the body: Fat metabolism: treatment increases the expression of key genes involved in lipid uptake in the muscles, and the creation of new mitochondria is also enhanced, which in the end are the ones that will use up the energy. Glucose uptake: sugar uptake was improved by improving the number of insulin receptors in cells as well as the famous transporter GLUT4 which allows the muscles to capture and use this sugar much better by removing it from the bloodstream. Energy production: increasing the enzyme LDH in the body it is related to an increase in energy metabolism that increased in treated mice. It’s not a miracle. Although the results are promising, researcher Rosemari Otton warns that this is not a miracle solution. The dose used in mice would be equivalent to about three cups of green tea a day for a human, but quality is essential. Otton recommends the use of standardized extracts, since the tea bags we have in the supermarket do not always guarantee the quantity or quality of the flavonoids, which in the end are the beneficial compounds. Images | Towfiqu barbhuiya In Xataka | Solving one of the great myths of losing weight: if “walking quickly” works by itself to lose weight

mice that do not fattens although they consume a fat diet

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What makes us fat? The question is simple, but the answer is not. We could simply say that it is a mathematical issue, calories that enter through calories that burn, but it would be to simplify the matter too much, forgetting that each body metabolizes food differently and that different foods and combinations of food can lead to slightly different results. A simple protein. The deficiency of a simple protein, CD44, Avoid in an experiment that a group of mice will gain weight even being subjected to a high diet in fat. The team responsible for the experiment tried to inquire into the role that this protein plays in metabolic health and obesity, a role, according to the results, of great importance. “We had previously pointed out that the deficiency of CD44 suppressed neuroinflamation. Give Metabolic, ”he explained In a press release Cheng Sun, co -author of the study. CD44. But what exactly is this protein and what do we know about its function in the body? CD44 is one Transmembrane proteina protein located in the cell membrane that crosses this layer that covers the cell. As explained by the team itself, this protein “plays an essential role in transcending extracellular stimuli within intracellular signal waterfalls”, thus contributes to metabolic regulation. This protein is also of special importance for cancer cells. Closing the step. The team genetically modified a group of mice to force the lack of this protein. In doing so, they observed that, even when they were provided with a high fat diet, the modified mice did not fat while the control population (not modified mice) did gain weight until developing obesity. The team responsible for the study He also points out The possible mechanism behind this relationship between lack of protein and thinness. They explain that this relationship can be attributed to the suppression of the so -called adipogenesis in the white adipose tissue. That is, the creation of the cells responsible for storing precisely where we accumulate more is avoided. The details of the study were published In an article In the magazine The American Journal of Pathology. A new route. The team compares this path for weight loss with the one used by drugs such as Ozempicthe so-called LPG-1 (since its competence active emulates the effects of the peptide similar to type-1 glucagon). Very different routes in each case. As detailed by the team itself, the agonists of the GLP-1 receptors regulate the appetite and the metabolism of the glucose; Inhibition of the CD44 protein, meanwhile, acts preventing the formation of fat cells. This difference, they emphasize, implies that protein inhibitors could be used as accessories to treatments such as Ozempic when weight loss is sought. In Xataka | The Greek yogurt has conquered the supermarket yogurts. All thanks to the magic word: protein Image | EMW / I Yunmai

There is a ‘good’ fat that hides a secret to aging better and being fit. It only remains to get the pill

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Aging is inevitable, and with it it comes A progressive loss of physical capacity that causes it to be more difficult to walk or stand up. This makes Stay fit It becomes much more difficult and therefore the resistance begins to decline. But … what if this decline can be slow down? This is precisely what science is focused on. Fat as anti -aging. Researchers at the Rigers New Jersey Medical School They have discovered That a special type of adipose tissue, known as brown fat, could be the key not only for healthier old age, but also Improve physical performance. A study of great relevance, since it can open a new route in the anti -aging field. The team that has led this research has been able to identify an unusually powerful form of this ‘good fat’ in mice, which not only Increased his life expectancybut improved its exercise capacity by an impressive 30%. Now, the race has begun to be able to replicate these same effects in humans through a drug. Not all fat is bad. When we think of fat, the White fat or white adipose tissue. Its main function is to store excess calories in the form of triglycerides and is the one that can bother us aesthetically throughout our lives. Although in essence it is a large energy deposit. But, nevertheless, there is another type of fat that is much more interesting: brown fat or Brown adipose tissue. Unlike white, brown fat is specialized in burning calories to generate heat in a process called thermogenesis. This is possible thanks to the fact that their cells are full of mitochondria, which are the organelles that act as cellular power plants and that give it its characteristic brown color. In our life where we have more fatty fat in our body is when we are babies, since here it is crucial for Keep body temperature. But when we grow, the brown fat is lost until some cracks are around the neck and shoulders. But here the white fat is the one that dominates our body completely. One step further. Knowledge about brown fat already has a long journey in scientific literature. But it is now when this study goes further to point that it is linked to having a healthier longevity and with a much more appropriate physical exercise. How they knew it. To get to this conclusion, the researchers worked with a genetically modified mouse model to lack a protein called RGS14. The mice without this protein lived approximately 20% than their normal partners, and curiously the females lived more than the males in a pattern similar to that followed by humans. Even at the advanced ages, these mice avoided the typical signs of aging such as body atrophy, hair loss or the graying of the fur. But it does not stay here, since when submitting them to physical tests, the modified mice showed a 30% higher performance, both in distance traveled and in resistance. And all this because mice without RGS14 developed a dense and powerful brown fat than who expressed the protein correctly. The definitive test. To confirm that it was brown fat, and not another effect of genetic modification, scientists conducted a crucial experiment: transplanting the brown ‘supergras’ of mice without RGS14 to normal and healthy mice. The results were overwhelming. The mice that received this transplant improved their ability to exercise in just three days. On the other hand, when brown fat was transplanted from a normal mouse to another, an improvement was also observed, but much more and with eight weeks ahead to manifest its effects. Something that showed that the fat of the genetically modified mice was exceptionally powerful. Because? The mechanism seems to reside in an improvement in blood circulation. The indications suggest that brown fat promotes the creation of new blood cases in the muscles that improves the flow of blood and oxygen during exercise. The goal. Research suggests that this brown fat not only improves physical performance, but also protects against a series of ailments associated with age, such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disorders and even cancer and Alzheimer’s. Vatner’s team is already working with collaborators to develop a drug that imitates the effects of this powerful brown fat, hoping to have a compound ready to be tested in approximately one year. But the idea is not only to increase life expectancy, but “healthy life expectancy.” That is, even if you live longer, these ‘extra’ years enjoy good physical and mental health. While we expect that future pill, there are techniques such as deliberate exposure to cold (the famous ice baths) that can naturally increase our brown fat levels. However, as Vatner points out, most people would prefer to take a pill to take an ice cream bath. Images | Tatiana Zanon In Xataka | Our brain has its own backup. It is already known how to create copies in parallel of each memory

The Neanderthals invented it 125,000 years ago with their “fat factory”

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Although demonized for a long time, fat is one of the essential macronutrients for the correct functioning of our body. More recent studies and habits are putting the fats in their place placing some like Allied in healthy dietsbut thousands of years ago, who already knew the role of fat in the body were the Neanderthals. To the point that just discover A giant “Factory” of fat in Germany. Short. Neumark-nord It is an archaeological site that is southwest of Berlin and a few kilometers from Leipzig. It is a place not alien to researchers, since a study in the area a few years ago revealed How the Neanderthals already did what we are doing so well: deeply modify the landscape in which they live. Without leaving the customs of those Neanderthals who inhabited the area 125,000 years ago, we have new details about their customs. Posted in the magazine Science Advancesa new study shows how Our ancestors They had an “industry” around the processing of the bones of large mammals with a single objective: extract bone fat to consume it little by little. Fat factories. A study of more than 2,000 bone fragments and dozens of flint tools It has allowed researchers to observe in many of them signs of having used to crush, have been crushed and have an exposure to intense heat. In some specific areas there was a concentration of bones rich in marrow, as well as anvils and folk that would have been the Tools used by Neanderthals. This concentration reinforces the idea that the site was used as a kind of “factory” to extract fat in a rather laborious way. According to the researchers, to get that bone fat, they broke the bones of 172 mammals such as deer, horses or cattle. Once they reached the marrow, the small fragments in water crushed and warmed it to extract the fat. It was a planned, long and, the researchers affirm in Livescienceorganized to maximize the extraction of nutrients from animal remains. Bones damaged by a hammer Fighting “rabbit starvation”. Why complicate life so much to get fat? The reason is simple and we must return to the diet. Follow one balanced diet To be healthy it means that we must eat a certain amount of fats, proteins and carbohydrates. When one of the tables of the table decomposes, health problems appear. That they put so much effort to get fat in this way may mean that there were times (perhaps the coldest) in which Carbohydrates scarce and could not feed exclusively with proteins. A decompensation thus (which we now do with Diets like Keto) It is dangerous, above all, if it is accompanied by an intense rhythm of life in which energy is needed. Consuming too much protein without sufficient fat can cause something called “starring rabbit”, A potentially deadly condition that is caused by excessive consumption of lean meat without enough fat. And it is not that the rabbit is the animal that suffers it. It was baptized like this because Arctic Explorers They fed almost exclusively with similar rabbits and animals and fell seriously ill because our body cannot metabolize large amounts of proteins without sufficient fat. They only improved when they could hunt animals with more fat. Ahead of the clock. Our body may burn carbohydrates or fat to obtain energy, since Protein is not a good “fuel”and if the carbos were scarce, the Neanderthals turned to fat. Where from? Of what they had closer: the bones of the animals that had hunted to feed. That they realized this implies that perhaps we should stop seeing them as those little sophisticated “hunters” that we can imagine sometimes. It also indicates that They were organized and quite ingenious. And, more important than this consideration, that large fat factory in Germany advances the resource intensification industry clock in almost 100,000 years. Before this analysis, the oldest evidence of a similar industry Databa 28,000 years ago. Images | Athree23 In Xataka | The Neanderthals left a deep genetic footprint in us. The last example: the sense of pain

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