Teagasc research reveals link between weight gain and intestinal growth

AN ongoing Teagasc research project is trying to tease out the reasons why people put weight back on so quickly after going through a successful dietary programme before then going back to their ‘normal’ eating habits.

The research carried out at the Teagasc Food Research Centre in Moorepark, Cork, and at Aberdeen University in Scotland, examined the link between the loss of body fat and a corresponding growth in the intestine.

A summary of the findings – published in the latest edition of the Teagasc TResearch magazine – attribute the unusual link between weight loss and the growth of the intestine to animal evolution and a self-preservation process.

According to the research carried out by Kanishka Nilaweera, of Teagasc Moorepark and John R. Speakman, of the University of Aberdeen, the link involves a ‘fat-brain-intestine pathway’.

In simple terms, during times of weight loss or food shortage, the brain sends a message to the intestine to enlarge itself to enable it to absorb nutrients more efficiently when they come back into the system (i.e. when a diet finishes).

“The enlarged intestine would then be able to absorb nutrients efficiently upon ingestion of a meal consumed during the period of food scarcity and use the energy in the food to survive this challenging period and replenish the depleting fat stores,” the TResearch article states.

The issues goes to the core of a dietary phenomenon often referred to as ‘lose it quickly and put it back on twice as quickly’ that has proven difficult to figure out for dieticians and food scientists.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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