Obesity is not lacking in paradoxes. Associated with a decrease in pleasure brought by caloric food and even until recently (wrongly) to better cardiovascular health, it might not be the biological opposite of lipodystrophy (pathological lack of fat storage). Too little or too much fat, between the two ends of the spectrum, there are processes that are probably more similar than we think, suggests a new French study published in the journal Cell MetabolismCounterintuitively, these new results reveal the apparently antagonistic effects of the HSL protein, initially known for its role as a "fat eater."
By Camille Gaubert THE Subscribers
Without a certain protein known as a "fat-eater," researchers would expect to see obesity develop. On the contrary, in both mice and humans, HSL protein deficiency results in lipodystrophy, a rare disease characterized by a lack of fatty tissue. A mystery solved by French research that reveals unexpected similarities between diseases characterized by either an excess or a lack of fat.
Obesity affects 18% people in France, or around 6 million people, according to data published in 2024 by the French Observatory of Epidemiology of Obesity (OFEO).
Photo by GARO / PHANIE / PHANIE VIA AFP
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