Blogs: Weight Gain

Fat Depots and Metabolic Syndrome Risk in Black African Young Adults

Metabolic syndrome is a group of risk factors — increased blood pressure, a high blood sugar level, excess body fat around the waist, and abnormal cholesterol levels — that occur together, increasing risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. Several studies have shown that abdominal visceral adipose tissue (VAT) accumulation plays an important role in…

Obesity and Hippocampal Atrophy

Recent data shows that worldwide obesity has more than doubled since 1980. In 2014, almost 2 billion adults were overweight and of these, over 600 million were obese (World Health Organization). Evidence indicates that obesity is not only a major risk factor for conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and musculoskeletal disorders, but also a…

Aerated Drinks and Appetite Control

Incorporating air into food ingredients by sieving, creaming, whisking or beating makes them lighter and creates more volume. Several studies have shown that the consumption of aerated foods leads to increased satiety and helps control hunger, but the way aeration contributes to satisfaction is still not fully understood. In a recent study, researchers from the…

Can Triglyceride Content Predict Metabolic Effects of Weight Gain?

Along with obesity comes a wide spectrum of other health problems, such as metabolic complications, that come under the heading of metabolic syndrome. This syndrome consists of a group of conditions – anomalous cholesterol levels, increased blood sugar values, extra body fat around the waist, hypertension, and above all, insulin resistance – that may cause…

How Weight Gain Triggers Skeletal Muscle Remodeling

It is known that adipose tissue has a unique role in whole-body energy homeostasis and metabolic health due to its ability to expand and contract through adipocyte hypertrophy and atrophy. On the other hand, there is growing evidence that skeletal muscle may be affected by weight gain as well, since it is the main site…

Effects of Dietary Macronutrient Content on the Sensation of Fullness

The feeling of fullness experienced after food intake is given by gastric distension, which is sensed by mechanoreceptor neurons in the stomach and later relayed, via the vagus nerve, to sites in the central nervous system that mediate ingestive behavior. Satiation is, therefore, affected by the volume of food ingested, but changes in gastric relaxation…