Stress is something that many of us have to deal with on a daily basis but if you are looking to succeed with a weight loss plan new research has shown that it is important to learn how to beat stress for diet success.
Scientists from the University of Florida have found that those suffering from what is considered to be chronic stress will find losing weight more difficult.
According to the research, published in the journal BBA Molecular and Cell Biology of Lipids, chronic stress in people leads to the stimulation of a protein which works to reduce the ability of the body to be able to break down fat and therefore makes losing weight more difficult.
A report in the Daily Mail quotes co-study author Dr Li-Jun Yang, a professor at the UF College of Medicine, who said: “Stress causes you to accumulate more fat, or at least slows down fat metabolism.”
The doctor added: “This is yet another reason why it’s best to resolve stressful situations and to pursue a balanced life.”
The protein responsible for helping to break down fats is called betatrophin and was previously linked with a breakthrough in the treatment of diabetes, however initial research from Harvard University which suggested that the protein could help to increase the amount of insulin producing cells in the body to help those with diabetes was later found to have no such effect.
The importance of betatrophin as a way to help people who struggle to lose weight and to treat those with diseases such as diabetes has continued to fuel research projects and this latest one looked more closely at the effects it has on helping to break down at and to therefore lose weight.
Experiments on cells taken from mice and humans were first used to establish betatrophin’s role in body fat regulation, according to the study but as the study progressed it was found that the mice tested who experienced stress produced higher levels of betatrophin while their fat burning ability was slowed down.
According to the Daily Mail, mice experiencing environmental stress were also found to have increased betatrophin production in fat tissue and the liver.
All of these findings combined have helped to prove that betatrophin is a stress related protein according to the researchers and it is hoped that this could be the first step into learning more about stress levels and weight loss and how they are linked.
So far there have been no tests on the effect of betatrophin on fat metabolism in humans, however Dr Yang believes that the results prove that reducing stress is beneficial.
