Why it is difficult to lose weight for women compared to men

The ladies are in tough fight to lose weight as compared to men it is all because  of  the brain is wired differently as compared  to man, a new study suggests. That for most of the people preventing weight gain can look like an uphill struggle but scientists led by the University of Aberdeen in UK have discovered why it may  even harder for women as the gender is concerned.

The Researchers used  mouse model to uncover a sex difference in weight gain driven by the differences in physical activity and energy consumption. During the study, scientist were able to transform obese male mice with the increased appetite and reduce physical activity into lean, healthy mice. And on the same time the same transformation did not occur in the female mice.

All the findings could have implications for the development of new sex-specific medications for more effectively tackling the obesity epidemic in the near future. “The World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that the higher rates of obesity in women worldwide, reaching to the twice the prevalence of men in some parts of the world,” said Lora Heisler from University of Aberdeen who led the study and carried in collaboration with researchers from the University of Cambridge and University of Michigan.

Heisler said that "We have discovered that the part of the brain that has a significant influence on how we use  calories that we eat is wired differently in males and females,” .

The cells in the brain region makes very important brain hormones called pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) peptides. Researchers said that is responsible for the regulating of our appetite, physical activity, energy expenditure and body weight .

And In the females, this source of POMC peptides does not strongly modulate the  physical activity or energy expenditure . “So, while medications targeting this source of POMC peptides may effectively reduce appetite in females, our evidence suggests that they will not tap into the signals in our brain that modulate physical activity and energy expenditure,” said Heisler.

“And this study reveals that the sex difference in the physical activity, energy expenditure and body weight is driven by  specific source of brain POMC peptides,” Heisler said. This study was published in  journal Molecular Metabolism.