The past two decades have witnessed an epidemic spread of obesity-related diseases in Western countries. Elucidating the biological mechanism that links overnutrition to obesity could prove crucial in reducing obesity levels. In the July 26 issue of PLoS Biology, Dr. Dongsheng Cai and his research team at Albert Einstein College of Medicine describe a pathway that directs the brain to sense the body’s glucose dynamics, and they find that a defect of this glucose sensing process contributes to the development of obesity and related disease. Importantly, the team also found that correction of this defect can normalize the whole-body energy balance and treat obesity.
