Dieting forces the brain to eat itself - report

It’s emerged that in order to conserve energy, the body’s starvation mode kicks in and brain cells eat themselves, like other parts of the body.

SCIENTISTS CLAIM DIETERS struggle to lose weight because denying themselves food actually causes them to feel hungier.

A lack of nutrition stimulates the body’s starvation mode, causing the production of fatty acids, which turn up the hunger signal in the brain, ultimately forcing brain cells to eat themselves, according to a report in The Telegraph.

Tests on mice found that stopping the brain cells from eating themselves – a process known as autophagy – prevented levels of hunger from rising in response to starvation. Researches claim the findings could lead to new and effective weight loss treatments.

Read more by Nick Collins in The Telegraph>

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Dieting causes brain cells to eat themselves garlandcannon via Flickr

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