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    Nervous System May Hold Key to Weight Loss

    MONDAY, Dec. 5 (HealthDay News) -- People with higher levels of nerve activity may have an easier time losing weight, a small study suggests.

    Researchers looked at 42 overweight or obese people who took part in a 12-week weight-loss program that cut their daily calorie intake by 30 percent. The participants' resting sympathetic nerve activity was measured at the start of the study.

    The sympathetic nervous system, which spreads throughout the body, regulates many functions, including control of resting metabolic rate and the use of calories from food consumption.

    The researchers found that successful weight losers had significantly higher resting sympathetic nerve activity than those who had trouble shedding pounds. They also found that successful weight losers showed large increases in nerve activity after they ate a carbohydrate test meal. This did not occur in those who were weight-loss resistant.

    The study will appear in the February 2012 issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

    "We have demonstrated for the first time that resting muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) is a significant independent predictor of weight-loss outcome in a cohort of overweight or obese subjects," lead author Nora Straznicky, of the Baker IDI Heart & Diabetes Institute in Melbourne, Australia, said in a journal news release.

    "Our findings provide two opportunities. First, we may be able to identify those persons who would benefit most from lifestyle weight-loss interventions such as dieting. Secondly, the findings may also help in developing weight-loss treatments through stimulating this specific nervous activity."

    More information

    The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases explains how to select a safe and successful weight-loss program.

     

    14 comments

    • Bonnie  •  5 mths ago
      Where do I get that nerve stimulated......lol:)They Know how to cure obesity but It is such a big money maker...Diet pills,products....look at the people that would lose money....It's a joke..Joke on us fat people!
    • SLV  •  Los Angeles, United States  •  5 mths ago
      OK, so people with higher metabolisms have an easier time losing weight. I think we already knew that. So how do I get a faster metabolism?
      • Michelle 5 mths ago
        Take HGH and thryroid hormone
    • Jithin  •  Lynbrook, United States  •  5 mths ago
      i wish i was in this experiment and with the group that lost weight
    • Sam  •  5 mths ago
      eat healthy and be happy.....
    • ShaunC  •  Colorado Springs, United States  •  5 mths ago
      What does this study actually tell us? Nothing we don't already know. This should be obvious. Increased sympathetic activity causes increased release of cortisol and adrenaline from the adrenal glands, which increases blood sugar to be utilized by the muscles (which uses calories). What increases sympathetic activity? Stress! What increases parasympathetic activity? Relaxation. Now get up and exercise!
      • tralala311 5 mths ago
        i agree, what you say about exercising makes perfect sense. but i believe the difference is, these were all overweight/obese people, so it would seem that they would all have slow nerve activity. but no, coz the ones who were "naturally" faster lost weight faster & easier. also, if stress increases the activity, that seems to negate the cortisol, since that increases with stress. (if i'm understanding you correctly)
      • A Yahoo! User 5 mths ago
        you think the mass population understands the relationships between peripheral hormones, the brain, and weight loss? ha! besides, if weight loss were merely "rationalizing" this information and BAM! you were enlightened and thus lost weight, don't you think that would be going on? jeez, the brain and the periphery and their interactions are so complicated! (so sayeth an ingestive behavior researcher)
      • ShaunC 5 mths ago
        Tralala, to try to clarify things... Exercise is a form of stress (eustress). Any stimulus perceived by the nervous system as a stress stimulates the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight response), which in turn stimulates the adrenal glands to produce cortisol and adrenaline (which increases blood sugar to be utilized). These are all well known principles in any basic physiology text. My point is, this study states that weight loss resistant people have lower baseline sympathetic activity. This should be obvious and can be inferred from already known physiologic principles.

        Kwyji-beau, no I don't expect the mass population to understand much of anything anymore. Read yahoo! comments on any given day and you can tell the intelligence of the masses. I don't expect them to gather anything from the reporting of this study other than an excuse for not losing weight. I hate that I feel this way...
    • Mr. Big  •  Irvine, United States  •  5 mths ago
      Ad Rock you are super right Yahoo is garbage they just post same articles over and over just to fill their health pages.. What a crap.....
    • all for one-one for all  •  San Rafael, United States  •  5 mths ago
      I knew it... try having multiple sclerosis and a TSH of .065. Not fun.
      • Michelle 5 mths ago
        Actually TSH is the hormone that stimulates the thyroid, if it is low than your actual free T3 and T4 should be plenty high, it is inversely proportional to your actual thyroid hormone.
    • Non Compliant.  •  Las Vegas, United States  •  5 mths ago
      my new saying "I'm weight loss resistant"....HA
      • tralala311 5 mths ago
        you think thats funny? i guess you cant comprehend that it is true. you'd rather just laugh at the funny fat people... HA
    • Craig Robertson  •  Sarasota, United States  •  5 mths ago
      This article is extremely vague. What the hell is resting sympathetic nerve activity? How was it measured? Is there any way for a person to change theirs?
      • Michael S 5 mths ago
        We're not intended to understand it. We're expected to say "Wow! Awesome!"
    • Otto Pilot  •  San Antonio, United States  •  5 mths ago
      Gravitational pull... too strong! Must... fight... being sucked into... orbit!
    • Miss Tikya  •  5 mths ago
      One thing for sure, when I'm nervous, I eat.
    • Ad Rock  •  Pyongyang, North Korea  •  5 mths ago
      What? Yahoo is garbage
    • Robert F  •  Bossier City, United States  •  5 mths ago
      people who are really fat should lose weight and people who are bone skinny should gain weight...moderation in life is the key to everything
    • Otto Pilot  •  San Antonio, United States  •  5 mths ago
      So drink all your coffee and Red Bull, boys and girls!
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