Marcella La Cioppa According to recent research, adipose cells have a memory of obesity, which is why after a period of dieting overweight people are more likely to regain the lost kilos.
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Recent findings published in Nature outline the role of epigenetics in the so-called yo-yo effect: the tendency of people to regain weight after weight loss.
Fat cells carry an “obesity memory” via epigenetic changes that affect gene expression. It is a memory that does not seem to erase even after substantial weight loss, which makes maintaining diet results over the long term quite difficult.
The study
According to researchers, this epigenetic memory reprograms the behavior of fat cells. For example, studies showed that fat cells of people who had lost weight tend to suck up more sugars and fats than those of never-obese individuals. In addition, the formerly obese also regained weight faster.
How long this cellular memory lasts is not yet certain. Ferdinand von Meyenn, also an author on the new work and an epigenetics researcher at ETH Zurich, thinks there could be a time frame in which this epigenetic memory becomes weaker. This, too, would have to be researched further.
These findings represent another reason why it’s so important to avoid obesity in the first place. This cellular memory makes it very difficult to maintain weight loss over the long term.
Source: Nature
