Kudzu may help binge drinking

 Kudzu may help binge drinking  News, Therapies  No Responses »
May 182012
 

An extract of the Chinese herb kudzu dramatically reduces drinking and may be useful in the treatment of alcoholism and curbing binge drinking, according to a new study by McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School researchers.

“Our study is further evidence that components found in kudzu root can reduce alcohol consumption and do so without adverse side effects,” said David Penetar, PhD, of the Behavioral Psychopharmacology Research Laboratory at McLean Hospital, and the lead author of the study. “Further research is needed, but this botanical medication may lead to additional methods to treat alcohol abuse and dependence.”

In the study, published in the current issue of Drug and Alcohol Dependence, researchers in the Behavioral Psychopharmacology Research Laboratory at McLean Hospital looked at one of the major components of the kudzu root—the isoflavone puerarin—to determine whether it would reduce alcohol consumption in a laboratory simulation of an afternoon drinking session.

According to Penetar, puerarin was selected over other kudzu root components because its safety and efficacy have already been established in humans, particularly in China where it is approved for intravenous injection to treat coronary heart disease, myocardial infarction and angina. Puerarin is also less potent than other parts of the kudzu plant, so it has few side effects and has none of the estrogenic activity found in other components, making it safe for women.

In the study, Penetar and his colleagues looked at 10 men and women, all in their 20s and all reporting regularly consuming alcohol weekly. A laboratory at McLean Hospital was set up as an apartment, with TV, DVD player, reclining chair and other amenities. The unit was also stocked with a refrigerator full of each subject’s favorite beer and other non-alcoholic beverages.

In an initial 90-minute session in the “apartment,” each subject was allowed to consume as many beers as he or she wanted—up to a maximum of six. After the session, each was given either puerarin or a placebo and told to take it daily for a week. Then, each returned to do the experiment again. Two weeks later, the subjects returned for a third session to see if they had returned to their baseline drinking levels. After that, each subject was given the pill he or she didn’t get the first time and told to take it for a week. Each then returned for a fourth and final drinking session.

The study showed that subjects taking puerarin drank significantly fewer beers—dropping from 3.5 beers on average to 2.4.

“This was a simulation of a binge drinking opportunity and not only did we see the subjects drinking less, we noted that their rate of consumption decreased, meaning they drank slower and took more sips to finish a beer,” explained Penetar. “While we do not suggest that puerarin will stop drinking all together, it is promising that it appears to slow the pace and the overall amount consumed.”

The Behavioral Psychopharmacology Research Laboratory at McLean Hospital has been involved in a series of research projects for more than 10 years, looking at the ability of extracts of the kudzu root and its components to reduce excessive drinking with very encouraging results.

Source: McLean Hospital

How faces affect preference and trust

 How faces affect preference and trust  News, Perception  No Responses »
May 182012
 

People respond to facial cues and this affects their level of trust, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research that looks at the way consumers react to morphed photo images.

Authors Robin J. Tanner and Ahreum Maeng (both University of Wisconsin-Madison) explore the effect of morphing unfamiliar facial images with those of two famous individuals: George W. Bush and Tiger Woods. “We digitally create composite faces that are made up of 35 percent of the celebrity face and 65 percent of unknown model faces,” the authors write. “When individuals view these morphed faces they universally fail to consciously recognize the presence of the celebrity images and instead believe they are viewing the faces of unfamiliar people.”

Even though they weren’t aware of the similarity, participants in the authors’ experiments rated the celebrity-morphed images as being more trustworthy than control faces. “It becomes clear that individuals are subliminally influenced by celebrity facial cues,” the authors write.

In one intriguing experiment, the authors asked participants how likely they were to do business with a salesperson whose picture was morphed with Tiger Woods’. Participants’ reactions became more negative in the midst of the Tiger Woods scandal. “Individuals were considerably less enthusiastic about buying from him than were individuals who viewed the face before the scandal broke,” the authors write. “We believe the scandal led individuals to automatically experience a stronger avoid motivation toward the Tiger-morphed salesperson face.”

“In our view, marketers rather myopically focus on digitally manipulating the attractiveness of the individuals they use in their advertisements,” the authors write. “Our results suggest automatic perceptions of familiarity may actually have similar, or perhaps greater, potential to influence consumers. Perhaps, in some circumstances, familiarity may actually trump beauty?”

Source: Journal of Consumer Research

Circadian clock common to almost all life forms

 Circadian clock common to almost all life forms  Chronobiology, Circadian rhythms, Worth Noting  No Responses »
May 182012
 

 A group of biology researchers, led by Akhilesh Reddy from Cambridge University have found an enzyme that they believe serves as a circadian clock that operates in virtually all forms of life. In a paper published in the journal Nature, they describe a class of enzymes known as peroxiredoxins which are present in almost all plants and other organisms and which appear to serve as a basic ingredient in non-feedback loop biological clocks.

Up till now, researchers have not been able to find any kind of common biorhythmic clock among the Earth’s varied organisms, each class seemed to have its own. They did find though that one common feature of most was a feedback loop, which is where genes are transcribed before being translated into proteins which then build up until they reach a tipping point. Once that happens, transcription is turned off and the enzyme goes dormant. This cycle, for most organisms occurs on a twenty four hour basis, and is responsible for such things as the feelings of sleepiness or hunger in people that occur at roughly the same time each day.

But now, this new research suggests that the true clock controlling behavior in virtually every imaginable plant, animal, fungus, etc. has its roots in an enzyme whose purpose is to help clean up residue left over from the ravages of antioxidants.

Peroxiredoxins, which exist in virtually all life forms, are enzymes that cycle between two states depending on whether they have reacted recently with hydrogen peroxide, or not. The researchers found that this cycle occurs on a roughly twenty four hour cycle in all of the organisms they’ve tested to date. What’s more, the cycle continued even in the absence of light, proving that it’s not part of a feedback loop. Unfortunately, the team has not yet been able to show how or if the enzyme controls other clock mechanisms that are a part of feedback loops.

The team suggests that peroxiredoxins developed their cyclical behavior just after organisms began to develop some two and half billion years ago that were able to handle the increased amounts of oxygen that had begun to appear in the atmosphere in a time period known as the Great Oxidation Event; the time when bacteria developed photosynthesis and began pumping out oxygen. Those organisms that managed to survive had to develop a means of dealing with the damage caused by antioxidants, and thus was born the role of peroxiredoxins. And because oxygen levels rose and fell on a regular daily schedule, the enzymes developed a clock over time to help predict when to go to work, and when to remain dormant, thus paving the way for the first circadian clock.

More information: Peroxiredoxins are conserved markers of circadian rhythms,Nature (2012) doi:10.1038/nature11088

Gene therapy holds back aging

 Gene therapy holds back aging  Genes, Living Longer, Worth Noting  No Responses »
May 182012
 

Direct GFP fluorescence in shaved back skin of mice treated with the indicated vectors

Mouse lifespan was extended up to 24 percent with a single gene treatment in research at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), using gene therapy, a strategy never before employed to combat aging.

Mice treated at the age of one lived longer by 24% on average, and those treated at the age of two, by 13%. The therapy, furthermore, produced an appreciable improvement in the animals’ health, delaying the onset of age-related diseases – like osteoporosis and insulin resistance – and achieving improved readings on ageing indicators like neuromuscular coordination.

The gene therapy utilised consisted of treating the animals with a DNA-modified virus, the viral genes having been replaced by those of the telomerase enzyme, with a key role in aging. Telomerase repairs the extremes of chromosomes, known as telomeres, and in doing so slows the cell’s and therefore the body’s biological clock. When the animal is infected, the virus acts as a vehicle depositing the telomerase gene in the cells.

This study “shows that it is possible to develop a telomerase-based anti-aging gene therapy without increasing the incidence of cancer,” the authors affirm. “Aged organisms accumulate damage in their DNA due to telomere shortening, [this study] finds that a gene therapy based on telomerase production can repair or delay this kind of damage.”

‘Resetting’ the biological clock

Telomeres are the caps that protect the end of chromosomes, but they cannot do so indefinitely: each time the cell divides the telomeres get shorter, until they are so short that they lose all functionality. The cell, as a result, stops dividing and ages or dies. Telomerase gets round this by preventing telomeres from shortening or even rebuilding them. What it does, in essence, is stop or reset the cell’s biological clock.

But in most cells the telomerase gene is only active before birth; the cells of an adult organism, with few exceptions, have no telomerase. The exceptions in question are adult stem cells and cancer cells, which divide limitlessly and are therefore immortal – in fact several studies have shown that telomerase expression is the key to the immortality of tumor cells.

It is precisely this risk of promoting tumor development that has set back the investigation of telomerase-based anti-ageing therapies.

In 2007, CNIO scientists proved that it was feasible to prolong the lives of transgenic mice whose genome had been permanently altered at the embryonic stage, by causing their cells to express telomerase and, also, extra copies of cancer-resistant genes. These animals live 40% longer than is normal and do not develop cancer.

The mice subjected to the gene therapy now under test are likewise free of cancer. Researchers believe this is because the therapy begins when the animals are adult so do not have time to accumulate sufficient number of aberrant divisions for tumours to appear.

Also important is the kind of virus employed to carry the telomerase gene to the cells. The authors selected demonstrably safe viruses that have been successfully used in gene therapy treatment of haemophilia and eye disease. Specifically, they are non-replicating viruses derived from others that are non-pathogenic in humans.

Although this therapy may not find application as an anti-aging treatment in humans, in the short term at least, it could open up a new treatment option for ailments linked with the presence in tissue of abnormally short telomeres, as in some cases of human pulmonary fibrosis.

The vector the scientists use expresses the target gene (telomerase) over a long period, so they were able to apply a single treatment. This might be the only practical solution for an anti-ageing therapy, since other strategies would require the drug to be administered over the patient’s lifetime, multiplying the risk of adverse effects.

Bruno Bernardes de Jesus et al., Telomerase gene therapy in adult and old mice delays ageing and increases longevity without increasing cancer, EMBO Molecular Medicine, 2012 DOI: 10.1002/emmm.201200245

Source:  Spanish National Cancer Research Centre

Paralysed, but moves arm with thoughts

 Paralysed, but moves arm with thoughts  Brain, Worth Noting  No Responses »
May 172012
 

In a clinical trial, a woman used the BrainGate system to mentally control a robotic arm and reach for a drink. Credit: The BrainGate Collaboration

In an ongoing clinical trial, a paralyzed woman was able to reach for and sip from a drink on her own – for the first time in nearly 15 years – by using her thoughts to direct a robotic arm.

The trial, funded in part by the National Institutes of Health, is evaluating the safety and feasibility of an investigational device called the BrainGate neural interface system. This is a type of brain-computer interface (BCI) intended to put robotics and other assistive technology under the brain’s control. A report published today in Nature describes how two individuals – both paralyzed by stroke – learned to use the BrainGate system to make reach-and-grasp movements with a robotic arm, as part of the BrainGate2 clinical trial.

The report highlights the potential for long-term use and durability of the BrainGate system, part of which is implanted in the brain to capture the signals underlying intentional movement. It also describes the most complex functions to date that anyone has been able to perform using a brain-computer interface. For the woman, it was the first time since her stroke that she was able to sip a drink without help from a caregiver.

“The smile on her face was a remarkable thing to see. For all of us involved, we were encouraged that the research is making the kind of progress that we had all hoped,” said the trial’s lead investigator, Leigh Hochberg, M.D., Ph.D., who is an associate professor of engineering at Brown University in Providence, R.I. and a critical care neurologist at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)/Harvard Medical School in Boston.

“Years after the onset of paralysis, we found that it was still possible to record brain signals that carry multi-dimensional information about movement and that those signals could be used to move an external device,” Dr. Hochberg said. He noted that the technology is years away from practical use and that the trial participants used the BrainGate system under controlled conditions in their homes with a technician present to calibrate it.

The BrainGate neural interface system consists of a sensor to monitor brain signals and computer software and hardware that turns these signals into digital commands for external devices. The sensor is a baby aspirin-sized square of silicon containing 100 hair-thin electrodes, which can record the activity of small groups of brain cells. It is implanted into the motor cortex, a part of the brain that directs movement. “This technology was made possible by decades of investment and research into how the brain controls movement. It’s been thrilling to see the technology evolve from studies of basic neurophysiology and move into clinical trials, where it is showing significant promise for people with brain injuries and disorders,” said Story Landis, Ph.D., director of NIH’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).

The institute funds BCI research in hopes of restoring function and improving quality of life for people coping with limb amputations or paralysis from spinal cord injury, stroke or neuromuscular disorders. NIH has supported basic and applied research in this area for more than 30 years. In 2009 and 2010, an additional $3.8 million in NIH funding was made possible through the Recovery Act. The latest analysis from the BrainGate2 trial focused on two participants – a 58-year-old woman and a 66-year-old man. Both individuals are unable to speak or move their limbs because of brainstem strokes they had years ago – the woman’s in 1996 and the man’s in 2006.

In the trial, both participants learned to perform complex tasks with a robotic arm by imagining the movements of their own arms and hands. In one task, several foam targets were mounted on levers on a tabletop and programmed to pop up one at a time, at different positions and heights. The participants had less than 30 seconds to grasp each target using the DEKA Arm System (Generation 2), which is designed to work as a prosthetic limb for people with arm amputations. One participant was able to grasp the targets 62 percent of the time, and the other had a 46 percent success rate. In some sessions, the woman controlled a DLR Light-Weight Robot III arm, which is heavier than the DEKA arm and designed to be used as an external assistive device. She used this arm prior to the DEKA arm in the foam target task, and had a success rate of 21 percent.

In other sessions with the DLR arm, her task was to reach for a bottled drink, bring it to her mouth and sip from a straw. She was able to complete four out of six attempts. This is not the first glimmer of hope from human BCI research. Participants in the BrainGate trial and other studies have also used BCI technology to perform point-and-click actions with a computer cursor, a level of control that has been used for communication. “This is another big jump forward to control the movements of a robotic arm in three-dimensional space. We’re getting closer to restoring some level of everyday function to people with limb paralysis,” said John Donoghue, Ph.D., who leads the development of BrainGate technology and is the director of the Institute for Brain Science at Brown University. Dr. Donoghue said the woman’s ability to use the BrainGate was especially encouraging because her stroke occurred nearly 15 years ago and her sensor was implanted more than five years ago.

Some researchers have wondered whether neurons in the motor cortex might die or stop generating meaningful signals after years of disuse. Researchers in the field have also worried that years after implantation, the sensor might break down and become less effective at enabling complex motor functions. Roderic Pettigrew, M.D., Ph.D., director of NIH’s National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), which supports the research, indicated that the technology is promising, but at present is still undergoing development and evaluation.

“The researchers have begun the long, difficult process of testing and refining the system with feedback from patients, and they’ve found that it is possible for a person to mentally control a robotic limb in three-dimensional space. This represents a remarkable advance,” he said. As the trial continues, the BrainGate research team needs to test the technology in more individuals, they said. They envision a system that would be stable for decades, wireless and fully automated. For now, the sensor – and therefore the user – must be connected via cables to the rest of the system. Prior to each session with the robotic arms, a technician had to perform a calibration procedure that lasted 31 minutes on average. Improvements are also needed to enhance the precision and speed of control. In the foam target task, for example, a successful reach-and-grasp motion typically took almost 10 seconds.

The ultimate goal for helping people with paralysis is to reconnect the brain directly to paralyzed limbs rather than robotic ones, the researchers said. In the future, the BrainGate system might be used to control a functional electrical stimulation (FES) device, which delivers electrical stimulation to paralyzed muscles. Such technology has shown promise in monkeys. The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) has long supported the clinical trial research for BrainGate, with the goal of enabling mental control of an FES system for limb movement.

In previous reports from the BrainGate2 trial, a participant was able to use the BrainGate system to direct the movements of a virtual, computer-animated arm designed to simulate FES control of a real arm. To support this research, NIH has worked closely with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the research arm of the Department of Defense. DARPA supports development of the DEKA arm. Development of the DLR arm is funded by the German aerospace agency DLR. NIH has supported the fundamental neuroscience and BCI development, and the clinical research in collaboration with the VA.

Drs. Hochberg and Donoghue hold research positions with the Providence VA Medical Center. Dr. Donoghue is supported by a Javits Neuroscience Investigator award (NS025074) from NINDS, and by a grant (EB007401) from NIBIB and NICHD. The research is also supported by contracts (HD53403, HD100018) from NICHD’s National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research to Robert Kirsch, Ph.D., at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland. Additional support came from an NIH Challenge grant (HD063931) to Dr. Donoghue and a grant (DC009899) from the National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) to Dr. Hochberg, which were funded all or in part through the Recovery Act.

The BrainGate trial began in 2004 and was run by Cyberkinetics Inc., in collaboration with Brown University and MGH. NICHD began funding the trial in 2005. After Cyberkinetics withdrew from the research for financial reasons, funding continued through this NICHD contract, MGH became the clinical trial and administrative lead, and the trial was renamed BrainGate2.

Source: NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

Buying beauty boosts us

 Buying beauty boosts us  Consumer Behaviour, Worth Noting  No Responses »
May 172012
 

People who feel good about themselves are less likely to choose an attractive product than a functional one, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research. But choosing highly aesthetic products may make people more open-minded.

“Today’s marketers are keenly aware that the way a product looks significantly impacts its commercial success,” write authors Claudia Townsend (University of Miami) and Sanjay Sood (UCLA). “In this research we demonstrate one way in which aesthetics impacts the choice decision differently than more functional attributes and then propose an explanation for this behavior.”

Drawing on literature showing that people equate beauty with goodness, the authors found that the choice of a highly aesthetic product is “self-affirming,” meaning that it can reinforce a person’s belief that they are a good person. The authors suggest that good aesthetics bestow a beauty premium on products, much like the benefit that good looks provide a person.

The authors looked at the relationship between self-esteem and product choice (among lamps and calculators) when one option is more physically attractive and the other more functional. The authors found that participants who had completed a prior self-affirming task were less likely to choose the highly aesthetic option, but instead chose based on function.

On the other hand, another study showed that after choosing good-looking products, people were more open to other perspectives. They also discovered that choosing a handsome object made people less likely to spend more money subsequently. “It is well known that decision makers often ‘throw good money after bad,’ meaning that there is a tendency to continue investing in products that are not paying off,” the authors write. “Interestingly, choosing a good-looking product reduced this tendency to escalate commitment.”

Advertisers might want to be aware that affirming potential customers’ sense of self may backfire. “It may, in fact, be disadvantageous if the product is highly aesthetic,” the authors conclude.

Source: Journal of Consumer Research

Men love red meat – here’s why

 Men love red meat – here’s why  Diet, Men, News  No Responses »
May 172012
 

Why are men generally more reluctant to try vegetarian products? According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, consumers are influenced by a strong association of meat with masculinity.

“We examined whether people in Western cultures have a metaphoric link between meat and men,” write authors Paul Rozin (University of Pennsylvania), Julia M. Hormes (Louisiana State University), Myles S. Faith (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill), and Brian Wansink (Cornell University). The answer, they found, was a strong connection between eating meat—especially muscle meat, like steak—and masculinity.

In a number of experiments that looked at metaphors and certain foods, like meat and milk, the authors found that people rated meat as more masculine than vegetables. They also found that meat generated more masculine words when people discussed it, and that people viewed male meat eaters as being more masculine than non-meat eaters.

Most of the studies took place in the United States and Britain, but the authors also analyzed 23 languages that use gendered pronouns. They discovered that across most languages, meat was related to the male gender.

“To the strong, traditional, macho, bicep-flexing, All-American male, red meat is a strong, traditional, macho, bicep-flexing, All-American food,” the authors write. “Soy is not. To eat it, they would have to give up a food they saw as strong and powerful like themselves for a food they saw as weak and wimpy.”

If marketers or health advocates want to counteract such powerful associations, they need to address the metaphors that shape consumer attitudes, the authors explain. For example, an education campaign that urges people to eat more soy or vegetables would be a tough sell, but reshaping soy burgers to make them resemble beef or giving them grill marks might help cautious men make the transition.

“In marketing, understanding the metaphor a consumer might have for a brand could move the art of positioning toward more of a science,” the authors conclude.

Source: University of Chicago Press Journals

Genes – key to success in life?

 Genes – key to success in life?  Genes, News  No Responses »
May 172012
 

Genes play a greater role in forming character traits – such as self-control, decision making or sociability – than was previously thought, new research suggests.

A study of more than 800 sets of twins found that genetics were more influential in shaping key traits than a person’s home environment and surroundings.

Psychologists at the University of Edinburgh who carried out the study, say that genetically influenced characteristics could well be the key to how successful a person is in life.

The study of twins in the US – most aged 50 and over– used a series of questions to test how they perceived themselves and others. Questions included “Are you influenced by people with strong opinions?” and “Are you disappointed about your achievements in life?”

The results were then measured according to the Ryff Psychological Well-Being Scale which assesses and standardises these characteristics.

By tracking their answers, the research team found that identical twins – whose DNA is exactly the same – were twice as likely to share traits compared with non-identical twins.

Psychologists say the findings are significant because the stronger the genetic link, the more likely it is that these character traits are carried through a family.

Professor Timothy Bates, of the University of Edinburgh’s School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, said that the genetic influence was strongest on a person’s sense of self-control.

Researchers found that genes affected a person’s sense of purpose, how well they get on with people and their ability to continue learning and developing.

Professor Bates added: “Ever since the ancient Greeks, people have debated the nature of a good life and the nature of a virtuous life. Why do some people seem to manage their lives, have good relationships and cooperate to achieve their goals while others do not? Previously, the role of family and the environment around the home often dominated people’s ideas about what affected psychological well-being. However, this work highlights a much more powerful influence from genetics.”

The study, which builds on previous research that found that happiness is underpinned by genes, is published online in the Journal of Personality.

Source: University of Edinburgh

Dietary supplements increase cancer risk

 Dietary supplements increase cancer risk  Therapies, Worth Noting  No Responses »
May 172012
 

Too much of some supplements may be really bad

Beta-carotene, selenium and folic acid – taken up to three times their recommended daily allowance, these supplements are probably harmless. But taken at much higher levels as some supplement manufacturers suggest, these three supplements have now been proven to increase the risk of developing a host of cancers.

“It’s not that these nutrients are toxic – they’re essential and we need them, but we need them in a certain balance,” says Tim Byers, MD, MPH, professor of epidemiology at the Colorado School of Public Health and associate director for prevention and control at the University of Colorado Cancer Center.

Byers is senior author of a commentary recently published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute that discusses the clinical and policy implications of the increased cancer risk from high dose dietary supplements.

“We have a window into less than half of the biology of what these nutrients are doing,” Byers says. “We say generalized things about them, calling them an antioxidant or an essential mineral, but true biology turns out to be more complex than that. The effects of these supplements are certainly not limited to the label we give them. And, as we’ve seen, sometimes the unintended effects include increased cancer risk.”

Currently the FDA regulates dietary supplements as food, but, as Byers and colleagues suggest, supplements, especially at high doses, are more accurately described as inhabiting a mid-ground between food and drugs. Like drugs, supplement ingredients are biologically active – sometimes for better and sometimes for worse.

“We need to do a better job as a society in ensuring that the messages people get about value versus risk is accurate for nutritional supplements,” Byers says. “My conclusion is that taking high doses of any particular nutrient is more likely to be a bad thing than a good thing.”

Source: University of Colorado Denver

Drugs from lizard saliva reduces the cravings for food

 Drugs from lizard saliva reduces the cravings for food  News, Weight Loss  No Responses »
May 172012
 

Caption: In a study with rats published in the Journal of Neuroscience, Assistant Professor Karolina Skibicka and her colleagues show that exendin-4 effectively reduces the cravings for food.

A drug made from the saliva of the Gila monster lizard is effective in reducing the craving for food. Researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, have tested the drug on rats, who after treatment ceased their cravings for both food and chocolate.

An increasing number of patients suffering from type 2 diabetes are offered a pharmaceutical preparation called Exenatide, which helps them to control their blood sugar. The drug is a synthetic version of a natural substance called exendin-4, which is obtained from a rather unusual source – the saliva of the Gila monster lizard (Heloderma suspectum), North America’s largest lizard.

Researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, have now found an entirely new and unexpected effect of the lizard substance.

In a study with rats published in the Journal of Neuroscience, Assistant Professor Karolina Skibicka and her colleagues show that exendin-4 effectively reduces the cravings for food.

“This is both unknown and quite unexpected effect,” comments an enthusiastic Karolina Skibicka:

” Our decision to eat is linked to the same mechanisms in the brain which control addictive behaviours. We have shown that exendin-4 affects the reward and motivation regions of the brain”

The implications of the findings are significant” states Suzanne Dickson, Professor of Physiology at the Sahlgrenska Academy: “Most dieting fails because we are obsessed with the desire to eat, especially tempting foods like sweets. As exendin-4 suppresses the cravings for food, it can help obese people to take control of their weight,” suggests Professor Dickson.

Research on exendin-4 also gives hope for new ways to treat diseases related to eating disorders, for example, compulsive overeating.

Another hypothesis for the Gothenburg researchers’ continuing studies is that exendin-4 may be used to reduce the craving for alcohol.

“It is the same brain regions which are involved in food cravings and alcohol cravings, so it would be very interesting to test whether exendin-4 also reduces the cravings for alcohol,” suggests Assistant Professor Skibicka.

Source: University of Gothenburg

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