The latest weight loss treatments focus primarily on appetite suppression. 

Drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy mimic a naturally occurring hormone to trick the brain into thinking that you are full. They also slow down the rate at which food moves through the digestive tract, which also helps you to feel fuller for longer. 

These drugs have proven to be a godsend in the fight against obesity, a worldwide epidemic. Excess weight has been connected to a heightened risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, depression, cancer, dementia, infertility, and more, as reported by The Dallas Express.

Appetite suppression, however, may not be the only way to tackle this chronic, complex disease. 

Medical News Today reports on researchers in Japan who have discovered a protein that may impact the effects of exercise on the body. Their findings may help explain why some people lose more weight than others when it comes to exercising. Here’s the start of the story:

Everyone knows that regular physical activity is important to maintaining a healthy weight. However, some people lose more weight than others through exercise.

Why is that?

Researchers from Kobe University in Japan say people who lose weight slower with regular physical activity may be lacking variants of the protein PGC-1α, which helps regulate the body’s metabolism and response to short-term exercise.

Scientists believe this finding may open the doors for an entirely new class of weight loss medication.

The study was recently published in the journal Molecular Metabolism.

For this study, researchers used both mouse and human models to look deeper into how the protein PGC-1α impacts exercise and its effects on the body.

“PGC-1α is a protein that falls under the category of ‘transcription coactivators,’ which have the function of inducing gene expression,” Wataru Ogawa, MD, PhD, professor and chair in the Division of Diabetes and Endocrinology in the Department of Internal Medicine at Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine in Japan and lead author of this study explained to Medical News Today. “PGC-1α enhances the expression of genes related to mitochondria, genes involved in fatty acid oxidation, and genes involved in thermogenesis, promoting efficient energy consumption in muscles.”