Has your weight loss stopped? Scientists may have found way of cheating metabolism to slow down

Even people taking medicine like Ozempic and Wegovy may find that their weight loss stops after a decrease of 20-25 percent of their body weight. This has resulted in this phenomenon being known as the 'Ozempic Plateau'.

Now a new study from the University of Southern Denmark in Denmark gives hope to be able to change this frustrating reality, the New York Post writes.

The study's lead author, professor of molecular biology Kim Ravnskjær, explains that weight loss 'usually goes well at first, but when people have lost some of the weight they want, the process stops because the body's metabolism adapts'.

The new research suggests that we may be able to control this metabolic adaptation – which would be a revolutionary discovery.

« If we can develop a medication that helps maintain fat or sugar burning at the originally high level of weight with weight loss treatments, people can continue to lose weight out of the ordinary plateau, » says Ravnskjær.

His team of forks has examined a particular gene function in the liver in mice, which goes by the name of the PLVAP gene.

Previous studies have shown that people born without this gene often have problems with lipid metabolism – the processes in which the body breaks down, transports and uses fats for energy, storage and cell functions.

The researchers discovered that this gene largely controls the shift from sugar to fat burning under the so-called 'starving state'. When the gene was disabled in the experimental animals, their liver did not respond to the fasting state and continued to burn sugar.

This suggests that there may be a way to 'cheat' the liver to set up metabolism, which of course can make a greater weight loss significantly easier.

« If we can control the liver's combustion of sugar and fat, we may also increase the effectiveness of weight loss and diabetes medicine, » says Ravnskjær.

Another notable discovery was that the mice did not experience any negative side effects during the experiment. On the contrary, they had lower blood sugar levels and better insulin sensitivity.

« It is well known that elevated blood sugar can lead to chronic complications for people with type 2 diabetes. Understanding the PLVAP gene can in the future help diabetics better regulate their blood sugar, » explains Ravnskjær.

The results of the study were published on Monday in the journal Cell Metabolism. So far, the research results are based only on mice and it takes a long time for any attempts at humans to take place.

« There is a long way from mouse trials to develop an actual medicine, but of course that is the potential of our research, » says Ravnskjær.