This Metabolism-Boosting Hormone May Help You Live Longer

Humans are not alone with regard to the consequences of a regime rich in fat. In fact, mice take care of some of the same results as humans when they overcome fatty foods, from obesity to metabolic dysfunction, heart disease and diabetes. However, mice at the University of Texas Southwestern medical center have helped researchers identify a possible solution to these results – a solution that resides in fatty cells of humans and mice.

Revealing their results in a new study in Cellular metabolismThe researchers found that the overproduction of a certain hormone called fibroblasts’ growth factor 21, or FGF21 for short-circuit, led to healthier metabolisms and longer lives in adult mice that had been powered by a diet rich in fat. According to the team, this hormone – which is produced by an assortment of body tissue, including fatty cells themselves – could contribute to a multitude of new treatments which could have similar results for metabolisms and human life.

“This is the first long -term aging study to demonstrate the powerful protective effects that FGF21 exerts by adipose tissues,” said Philipp Scherer, study author and teacher of internal medicine at UT Southwestern, according to a press release.

Find out more: Fat cells can maintain genetic memory – even after weight loss

Revisit “the famine hormone”

In a study in Elife Published a decade ago, researchers from the southwest UT determined that the overproduction of FGF21 improves metabolisms and the prolonged lifespan in mice. In terms of “famine hormone”, they described the FGF21 as an engine of some of the positive aspects of “the adaptive famine response”, which have been favored without reducing the food intake of the mouse.

The results were mice with increased awareness of insulin – a standard marker of metabolic health – and increased longevities, which were extended by around 30 to 40%. But the exact mechanisms by which FGF21 generated these effects were not clear. Did the advantages depend on the location or the moment of overproduction of the hormone? Did they depend on the diet of mice?

These first researchers arrived at their results by genetically modifying the liver cells of their mouse to overcome the FGF21 of birth, which meant that the team was unable to determine how overproduction would affect mice if the hormone was overproduced elsewhere (as in fatty cells) or later in life. In addition, hormone production was induced in mice that had not consumed a diet rich in fat, which means that their tests have not been able to account for the effects of the hormone on those who have an appetite for fatty food.

Find a future potential in FGF21

To unravel some of these unknowns, the authors of the new study have tinkered with the fat cells of their mouse to ensure that they would produce FGF21 from adulthood. They also nourished their mice in a regime rich in fats and continued this diet throughout their tests.

“We have found that the FGF21 lowers harmful lipids called ceramids, especially in visceral fats, which are closely linked to heart disease and diabetes.

According to the UT Southwestern team, mice with genetically modified fatty cells have shown an increased sensitivity and lifespan to insulin. They also showed reduced weight gain without changes in their diet and other healthy aging signs, such as lower levels of inflammatory immune cells.

In the end, although more research is necessary to reveal the possible effects of overproduction of the hormone on humans, the results show promising signs for the future of FGF21 as a tool for human health intervention. Indeed, the genetically modified mice experienced an average of 2.2 years, 0.4 years more than the genetically not changed mice, and for a maximum of 3.3 years, which is comparable to a long healthy human life.

“Discovering how a natural hormone protects against chronic diseases, we lay the basics of future treatments which prolong not only the lifespan, but also the quality of life,” said Scherer in the press release.

Find out more: Your fat cells never disappear – make future weight gain more likely

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Sam Walters is a journalist covering archeology, paleontology, ecology and the evolution of Discover, as well as an assortment of other subjects. Before joining the Discover team as a deputy editor in 2022, Sam studied journalism at the Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.