The Real Reason You Can’t Shed Pounds
Hitting the gym five days a week, watching your diet, and still not seeing the results you want? New research might explain why: A certain gene can mess with your hunger levels, causing you to pack on pounds , according the Journal of Clinical Investigation . Previous research has linked something called the FTO gene to obesity, but researchers didn’t know how exactly the gene caused people to gain weight. So for this study, researchers tested 359 people for the FTO gene and then measured their levels of ghrelin—an appetite-stimulating hormone—both before and after a test meal. Pre-meal, everyone’s ghrelin levels were about the same. But after the meal, the people without the FTO gene saw a much bigger dip in their ghrelin levels. What’s more, ghrelin levels rose back to their pre-meal level much more quickly for people who had the FTO gene. When your body functions normally, it stops making ghrelin after you eat because there’s no longer any reason for you to feel hun...