Deborah Marie Muoio is the George Barth Geller Distinguished Professor of Cardiovascular Disease at Duke University. She is known for her work on diabetes, obesity, and metabolism. (wikipedia)
The cells of obese people remembered their metabolic program, which could help explain, in part, why losing weight and maintaining weight loss is so difficult.
Obesity is a very complex disease, and this metabolic pathway probably does not fully explain obesity, but we now know that SCD1 is at least a very important contributor.
Obesity is a very complex disease, and this metabolic pathway does not fully explain obesity, but it is a likely contributor.
We found that obesity was associated with a threefold increase in SCD1 expression in obese muscle, as well as a threefold higher level of SCD1 enzyme, compared to lean muscle.
While these findings may be somewhat discouraging news for those wishing to reverse obesity through dietary interventions, they also highlight the importance of exercise.
This is a very important clue, because it indicates this program of fat storage is perpetuated as these cells divide. It's not driven strictly by over-nutrition.
There are two important observations that might have clinical relevance.
