New Science Shows Losing Weight May Be As Simple As Standing Up
By now you've probably heard the notion that "sitting is the new smoking" or put even more frankly: that "sitting is killing you"
But a new study puts a positive spin on the bad news about all that time spent sedentary; the research shows that losing weight and fighting the related obesity epidemic could be as simple as literally taking a stand.
Researchers at Sweden's University of Gothenburg believe they may have discovered the body's second known system for regulating body weight.
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“Quite simply, we have found support for the existence of internal bathroom scales," explains Professor John-Olov Jansson, in a statement. "The weight of the body is registered in the lower extremities. If the body weight tends to increase, a signal is sent to the brain to decrease food intake and keep the body weight constant."
The study was conducted by implanting weights into the bellies of mice. Some rodents had capsules with weight equivalent to about 15 percent of their body mass implanted while a control group had empty capsules implanted. After a few weeks, the two groups had nearly the same weight, with the mice implanted with added weight apparently making up the difference by shedding white body fat.
Over two decades ago, scientists discovered that the hormone leptin helps regulate body fat. If the findings of the new study can be duplicated in humans, it would appear that this internal scale amounts to another way the body keeps track of weight.
“The mechanism that we have now identified regulates body fat mass independently of leptin, and it is possible that leptin combined with activation of the internal body scales can become an effective treatment for obesity,” said Professor Claes Ohlsson at Gothenburg University.
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And those treatments might start with some of the advice that we're already hearing today: to get up off your seat and on to your feet.
“We believe that the internal body scales give an inaccurately low measure when you sit down. As a result you eat more and gain weight,” says Ohlsson.
In other words, sitting could really be killing us because it distorts the body's own picture of how much it weighs, screwing with the systems that regulate body fat.
Looks like you may want to take another look at investing in that standing desk after all.
The results are published in most recent issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Eric Mack, Contributor
