Brain Fatty Acid Uptake Greater in Metabolic Syndrome

Rapid weight reduction reduces uptake to some degree

FRIDAY, Sept. 17 (HealthDay News) -- Metabolic syndrome appears to enhance brain fatty acid uptake, an effect that may be attenuated by weight loss, according to research published in the September issue of Diabetes.

Anna Karmi, of the Turku University Hospital in Finland, and colleagues measured brain fatty acid uptake in 23 subjects with metabolic syndrome and seven healthy controls under fasting conditions. They then measured uptake in 16 of the metabolic syndrome patients after six weeks of a low-calorie diet.

Compared with healthy controls, the researchers found that the subjects with metabolic syndrome had a 50 percent higher uptake of brain global fatty acid at baseline, which was associated with age, fasting serum insulin, and homeostasis model assessment index. Rapid weight loss resulted in a decreased brain fatty acid uptake of 17 percent.

"To our knowledge, this is the first study on humans to observe enhanced brain fatty acid uptake in patients with metabolic syndrome. Both fatty acid uptake and accumulation appear to be increased in metabolic syndrome patients and reversed by weight reduction," the authors write.

The research was supported in part by the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

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