A surge of neurotransmitters

In mice, brain signals triggered the release of fatty acids in the liver, which are linked to metabolic¹ disease.

People with obesity² are ten times more likely to develop diabetes³ compared to lean people. Researchers trying to understand why have found an answer in the same system that drives the body’s fight-or-flight response. The findings1, in mice, challenge long-held assumptions about how eating too much can make you sick.

The study suggests that consuming a high-fat diet triggers a surge of neurotransmitters across the body, leading to the rapid breakdown⁴ of fatty tissue in the liver — a process usually kept in check by the release of insulin. The liberation of high levels of fatty acids is linked to a host of health conditions, from diabetes to liver failure2.

Researchers previously⁵ thought that the main problem in obesity-driven diabetes was faulty insulin activity, which means that the body cannot stop the dangerous release of fatty acids. But “instead of the breaks not functioning”, the latest study finds that there is a separate lever — neurotransmitters in the liver and other tissues — pressing hard on the accelerator, says Martina Schweiger, a biochemist at University of Graz, Austria. “This is indeed a paradigm⁶ shift.”