Although it may seem like research into weight loss and gain never ceases, not that much is known about which foods actually cause obesity. A recent study of male mice, published in Cell Metabolism, might finally provide some answers: results indicated that neither sugar nor protein deficits cause obesity, only fat does.
In the study, a group of 29 mice were fed different diets over the course of three months, which translates to nine human years. Researchers found that the mice on the high-fat diet were the only ones to become obese, and that the higher-fat foods stimulated brain activity that made the mice happier. The high-sugar diets neither caused significant weight gain nor stimulated happy activity.
The researchers believe that the brain activity the fat stimulated caused the mice to overeat and ignore other signals. Though more research is needed, it appears that sugar can no longer be scapegoated for obesity.
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