Researchers Discover On-Off Molecular Switch For Inflammation Triggered By Overeating

Overeating can lead to metabolic disorders like obesity and diabetes. Researchers identified a molecule that plays a crucial role in the body’s inflammatory response to overeating. This newly identified molecule is expected to be a promising therapeutic target that will not only control this inflammation but also keep metabolic disorders in check.

When an individual overeats, his body ends up storing all the excess calories in the form of fat depositions in the adipose tissues. If this continues, this could result in inflammation in adipose tissues and releases fatty acids into other tissues, including the liver.

The researchers pointed out it could be dangerous and may lead to metabolic disorders, including diabetes.

When a person is malnourished, he might be at a higher risk of infections. But, when one overeats, the immune response increases. Then, the increased immune response causes the body to generate excessive inflammation. This, in turn, could lead to several chronic ailments.

It is, therefore, important to maintain a balance since eating too little or too much could both upset the immune defense system and elevate disease risks.

Numerous diseases are caused by inflammation. While arthritis is a chronic inflammatory disease, a heart attack occurs due to an acute and powerful inflammatory reaction.

Although the researchers were aware that overeating could lead to inflammation and result in metabolic diseases, they didn’t know the precise method that the human body’s immune cells like macrophages, which react to excess calorie consumption actually contributed to this process.

They have zeroed in on a cellular pathway, which activates during overeating and instructs the cells to reduce inflammation.

Inflammation occurs when the immune system reacts to an injury or threat. Not only does it involve elevated blood flow and capillary dilation but also an influx of white blood cells.

“The body is smart. It tries to protect against inflammation when fat builds up in the body. We discovered a key pathway that quenches inflammation caused by overnutrition,” Xiaoyong Yang, who is the study’s lead author and associate professor of comparative medicine and cellular & molecular physiology at Yale School of Medicine, told Yale News.