Here’s How Exercise Develops a New Blood Molecule

Exercise has always been a recommended activity by professionals, as it has numerous benefits. Your body will be thankful for its effects on you until old age. The activity doesn’t just help physically, but it also positively affects your mental well-being. Doing physical exercises provides your body with endorphins and serotonin, enhancing your mood. People don’t just lose weight and fat through exercise — they also become happier individuals. With all the advantages you can acquire from exercising, an hour a day would be a great investment.

Photo: PxHere

Furthermore, any physical activity can aid you in preventing diseases and getting proper sleep. It’s healthy and invigorating — these benefits make exercise a worthy addition to your daily routine. Aside from that, new research has shown findings about the connection of working out with the development of blood molecules. According to this study, exercise can help create a blood molecule that can regulate appetite and obesity in mice. The research was conducted by scientists from Baylor College of Medicine, Stanford School of Medicine, and associated institutions. Their study was published in the journal Nature.

Photo: Pexels/Andres Ayrton

“Regular exercise has been proven to help weight loss, regulate appetite, and improve the metabolic profile, especially for people who are overweight and obese,” said co-author Dr. Yong Xu, professor of pediatrics-nutrition and molecular and cellular biology at Baylor. “If we can understand the mechanism by which exercise triggers these benefits, then we are closer to helping many people improve their health,” he continued. Also, his colleague, Jonathan Long, MD, assistant professor of pathology at Stanford Medicine and an Institute Scholar of Stanford ChEM-H, stated that they needed to conduct the research to discover further knowledge about the benefits of exercise at a molecular level.

The team analyzed blood plasma compounds from mice that underwent intense treadmill running. With the experiment, they found out about a modified amino acid called Lac-Phe. It is a molecule produced from lactate and phenylalanine — hence the name Lac-Phe. Lactate is where the burning sensation comes from while exercising, and phenylalanine is an amino acid acting as a building block of protein. Their experiment included mice fed a high-fat diet, and Lac-Phe decreased food intake by about 50%, which is highly different from control mice over 12 hours without intense energy use.

Photo: Pxfuel

After 10 days, there was a decrease in food intake and body weight because of Lac-Phe, and it also enhanced glucose tolerance. An enzyme called CNDP2 was identified, which was explained as part of Lac-Phe production. Unlike the others, the mice that lacked CNDP2 did not lose much weight. Moreover, the group discovered what physical activity boosts Lac-Phe, especially if the workout followed resistance and endurance training. The team will move forward with the research with all the gathered data and results. According to Dr. Yong Xu, their next goal is to find out the effects of Lac-Phe on other parts of the body, primarily the brain.

Support Research

Fund Diabetes research and care at The Diabetes Site for free!

Whizzco