AsianScientist (Jun. 17, 2011) – A diet high in protein may help you lose weight, according to new research published this month in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
A team led by Dr. Stefan Broer, head of the molecular nutrition group at the Australian National University College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, set out to find how a persons protein intake influences body weight.
To investigate the problem, the team generated mice with impaired protein digestion and measured a wide variety of physiological and physical properties.
“One of the first things we noticed was that the animals were quite a bit smaller in size than normal mice, which suggests that eating more protein can increase our body size and possibly our sporting potential in the long term,” said Broer.
“When we gave these mice diets of different protein content, we found that they could not control their body weight, losing up to 20 percent in a couple of days. This indicates that varying protein intake in the short term affects our body weight,” he added.
Broer said the study also revealed an influence of protein in our nutrition on insulin release, which controls the metabolism of sugar and fat in our bodies.
“This could explain some of the weight loss observed in the animals on different diets because we found that on a high protein diet a significant loss of fat occurred,” said Broer. “This information may have potential in the future development of weight loss treatments.”
The article can be found at: Broer A et al. (2011) Impaired nutrient signaling and body weight control in a Na+ neutral amino acid cotransporter (Slc6a19) deficient mouse.
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Source: Australian National University.
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