Do you diet in the summer?
This is the thing that can really ruin it
Researchers at Tel Aviv University have found that sun exposure stimulates appetite, but only in men.
Why does this happen and how does it affect your diet?
Here are all the details
Walla!
health
14/07/2022
Thursday, 14 July 2022, 07:08 Updated: 07:32
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You do not just get hungry after the sea.
Man sunbathing (Photo: ShutterStock)
Exposure to sunlight causes the release of a hungry hormone from the skin - but this effect is common only in men, a new study by Tel Aviv University found.
The researchers claim that men are more likely to gain weight in the summer because of this hormone.
However, in women, the sex hormone estrogen interferes with the release of this hunger hormone, meaning it does not lead to a change in appetite.
The study was conducted using epidemiological data collected over an entire year on the eating habits of about 3,000 Israeli men and women, through self-reports of female students who went out to sunbathe and through parallel genetic research in model animals.
The results of the study identify the skin as a first-rate regulator of energy and simple appetite (metabolism) in both model animals and humans.
The study on animals deciphers the differences in the activation of the metabolic mechanism between males and females.
According to the researchers, both in male model animals and in human males, sun exposure activates a protein called p53 that aims to repair DNA damage to the skin that results from exposure. Activation of p53 signals the body to secrete a hormone called ghrelin - which stimulates appetite. Estrogen inhibits the interaction between p53 and ghrelin, so they do not feel the need to eat after exposure to the sun
. , Such as exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun.
Their appetite increases.
Man eating (Photo: ShutterStock)
The study was led by Prof. Carmit Levy and doctoral student Shivong Freak from the Department of Human Genetics and Biochemistry at the Sackler School of Medicine at Tel Aviv University and in collaboration with a long line of researchers from Israel and around the world, including researchers from Ichilov, Assuta, Meir and Tel Hashomer Medical Centers. And Dr. Lior Bikovsky from the Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University and Prof. Aharon Waller from Bar Ilan University.
The study was published in the prestigious journal Nature Metabolism.
"We examined the differences between women and men after sun exposure and found that men eat more than women because their appetite increases," Prof. Levy explained.
"This is the first time that the molecular relationship between UV exposure and appetite has been deciphered, and of course the first time a sex-based medical study has been conducted on UV exposure. Sex-based medical studies are much more complex, requiring twice as many tests to find the differences statistically significant."
"We humans have shed our fur, which means that our skin, which is the largest tissue in the body, is exposed to signals from the environment," Levy added. "But it also signals to us that winter is over and we have gone out into the sun, perhaps to prepare for the breeding season? The results provide an encouraging basis for further research, both on human metabolism and finding UV-based treatment methods for diseases and disorders of appetite and metabolism."
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Tags
obesity
sun
Men
summer
Appetite