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The famine reaction is the well-known roadblock to weight loss. Researchers at the Garvan Institute in Sydney may have found clues to blocking it. Researchers at the Garvan Institute in Sydney have been investigating the bane of many a dieter's life: the famine reaction. And they may have found clues to blocking it. The famine reaction is the well-known roadblock to weight loss. You're behaving yourself but the hunger goes up and the weight loss goes down. It's your evolutionary genes thinking you're never going to see food again and shutting up shop just in case. The famine reaction is one reason why almost every diet eventually fails. The research looked at a chemical messenger in the brain called Neuropeptide Y, which is involved in many things including sex, growth, body rhythms and appetite. What the Garvan team found in mice was that if they knocked out two specific receptors (lock and key mechanisms) for Neuropeptide Y in the brain, the mice didn't get the famine reaction. They ended up lean with surprisingly strong bones. Interestingly though, the mice were still famished and ate large amounts. So it seems that the mechanism for storing excess energy as fat was blocked. It's every dieter's dream come true. The questions are whether it's the same in humans and if there's a drug that could do the job?
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