Why do women and men store fat differently? The answer could be in a gene, the so-called riglyceride lipase brummer.
Don't store avocado like this: it's dangerousMen and women with a few extra pounds distributed differently? Not only do women generally have a higher percentage of body fat than men, but the areas where that fat is concentrated differ between genders. Women are more likely to store the flab between legs and buttocks, men on the abdominal part. Why these differences?
All "blame" for lifestyles, sex hormones but also gods genes have been identified., which cause differences in how our body accumulates grasso. What not everyone knows is that the same thing happens to fruit flies, to which we humans are very similar, sharing with them almost 75% of the genes that cause disease. And just some of these genes can also explain because women and men store fat differently.
An insight that could one day be used to treat metabolic diseases, including type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. In the scientific literature, hundreds of fat metabolism genes have been studied that are affected in one way or another by fat metabolism sex hormones and by sex chromosomes, but not much is known about which specific genes are responsible for storing fat between the sexes.
In a new study published in PLOS Biology, researchers at the University of British Columbia in Canada focused on the genome of fruit flies.
Like women, female flies would also store more fat than males and metabolize it more slowly and while this difference between men and women is partially explained by lifestyle, biological factors such as sex hormones and sex chromosomes also play a role.
The study identified a gene, the so-called triglyceride lipase brummer (bmm), which is involved in the regulation of sexual differences in fat homeostasis: normally, male flies have higher levels of bmm; conversely, in the absence of this gene, males and females stored exactly the same amount of fat.
What are the implications of this discovery? By identifying genes that explain why males and females have different amounts of fat, scientists may be able to better understand why men and women have different disease risks associated with abnormal fat storage, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. type 2.
Knowing which genes influence fat storage and metabolism could be an important first step in developing more precise treatments to tackle this type of disease.
Read also:
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