Your cells ‘remember’ obesity, which makes it easier to gain weight again

Adipose tissue retains a ‘memory’ of obesity that persists after weight loss, which could increase the likelihood of gaining weight again and may help explain the yo-yo effect of dieting, according to experiments with mouse and human cells.

This memory is described in a study published by Nature, led by the Federal Polytechnic School of Zurich and in which researcher Daniel Castellano-Castillo from the Malaga Biomedical Research Institute and Nanomedicine Platform (IBIMA) participated.

The team used adipose tissue cells from 18 non-obese individuals and 20 others before and after weight loss following bariatric surgery. They also studied mouse cells.

The research indicated that obesity causes characteristic epigenetic changes in the nucleus of adipose cells, which remain even after a diet.

Adipose cells “remember the overweight state and can return to it more easily”highlighted the leader of the study, Ferdinand von Meyenn.

Mice with these epigenetic markers They regained weight more quickly when they regained access to a high-fat dietthat is, they suffered a yo-yo effect.

Epigenetics is the part of genetics that is not based on the sequence of genetic components, but on small chemical markers characteristic of these components.

The sequence of the basic components has evolved over time; We all inherit them from our parents, but epigenetic markers are more dynamic so environmental factors, eating habits or the state of the body – such as obesity – can modify them throughout life.

But they can remain stable for many years, sometimes decades, and during this time They play a key role in determining which genes are active in our cells and which ones are not, explains ETH in a statement.

“Epigenetics tells a cell what type of cell it is and what it should do,” explains Laura Hinte, one of the signatories of the study.

The study indicates, according to the researchers, the existence of an obesogenic memory, largely based on stable epigenetic changesin mouse adipocytes and probably in other cell types.

All of these changes appear to prepare cells for pathological responses, contributing to the yo-yo effect often seen with diets.

If these changes in adipose cells and potentially other cells were acted upon in the future, weight control and long-term health could be improved.