BACKGROUND A common obesity-risk variant rs9939609 in the fat mass- and obesity-associated (FTO) gene was recently shown to affect appetite, and the gene is sensitive to the regulation of amino acids. OBJECTIVE We examined the interaction between FTO genotype and protein intake on the long-term changes in appetite in a randomized controlled trial. DESIGN We genotyped FTO rs9939609 in 737 ov...

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common liver disorder worldwide. Its prevalence ranges 10-24% in the general population, reaching 60-95% and 28-55% in obese and diabetic patients, respectively. Although the etiology of NAFLD is still unclear, several lines of evidences have indicated a pathogenetic role of insulin resistance in this disorder. This concept has stimulated sev...

The effects of fat content in the hypocaloric diet on whole body glucose oxidation and adipocyte glucose transport were investigated in two animal-feeding experiments. Diet-induced obese rats were food restricted to 75% of their previous energy intakes with either a high (45% by calorie) or a low (12% by calorie) corn oil diet for 9 wk (experiment 1) or 10 days (experiment 2). The losses of bod...

BACKGROUND Intentional weight loss in obese older adults is a risk factor for accelerated muscle mass loss. We investigated whether a high protein diet and/or resistance exercise preserves fat free mass (FFM) during weight loss in overweight and obese older adults. METHODS We included 100 overweight and obese adults (55-80 year) in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) with a 2 × 2 factorial de...

OBJECTIVE Sympathetic nervous system (SNS) overactivity contributes to the pathogenesis and target organ complications of obesity. This study was conducted to examine the effects of lifestyle interventions (weight loss alone or together with exercise) on SNS function. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Untreated men and women (mean age 55 +/- 1 year; BMI 32.3 +/- 0.5 kg/m(2)) who fulfilled Adult Tre...

A mild stress such as brief ischemic episodes may protect the heart from a successive and more prolonged myocardial ischemia (ischemic preconditioning). This phenomenon is considered a typical "hormetic mechanism" by which the heart is immunized from pathological insults such as myocardial ischemia. This mechanism is reduced with aging and it may be restored and/or preserved by drugs such as ad...

Obesity and insulin resistance are associated with an increase of cardiovascular risk factors, including adipocytokines. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of low-calorie diet on serum lipids, adipokines, insulin resistance and body composition in obese women. It was a clinical trial with class I obese women aged 30-45 years submitted to hypocaloric diet for 90 days. Dietary in...

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in the resting state has shown altered brain connectivity networks in obese individuals. However, the impact of a Mediterranean diet on cerebral connectivity in obese patients when losing weight has not been previously explored. The aim of this study was to examine the connectivity between brain structures before and six months after following a hypo...

Ketogenic diets (KD) have gained popularity in recent years among strength-trained individuals. The present review summarizes current evidence—with a particular focus on randomized controlled trials—on the effects of KD body composition and muscle performance (strength power output) Although long-term studies (>12 weeks) are lacking, growing evidence supports effectiveness an ad libitum ener...

Skeletal muscle uncoupling protein 2 and 3 (UCP-2 and UCP-3) mRNA levels are increased during calorie restriction in lean and nondiabetic obese subjects. In this work, we have investigated the effect of a 5-day hypocaloric diet (1,045 kJ/day) on UCP-2 and UCP-3 gene expression in the skeletal muscle of type-2 diabetic obese patients. Before the diet, UCP-2 and UCP-3 mRNA levels were more abunda...