Nervous activity predicts weight loss

Successful weight losers had significantly higher resting nerve activity compared to weight-loss resistant people, Australian researchers found. Lead author Nora Straznicky of the Baker IDI Heart & Diabetes Institute in Melbourne said the sympathetic nervous system is widely distributed throughout the body and subconsciously regulates many physiological functions, including the control of resting metabolic rate and the dissipation of calories after food intake. The researchers examined 42 overweight or obese subjects who had participated in dietary-lifestyle intervention trials that cut their daily caloric intake by 30 percent for 12 weeks. "We have demonstrated for the first time that resting muscle sympathetic nerve activity is a significant independent predictor of weight-loss outcome in a cohort of overweight or obese subjects," Straznicky said in a statement. "Our findings provide two opportunities. First, we may be able to identify those persons who would benefit most from lifestyle weight-loss interventions such as dieting. Secondly, the findings may also help in developing weight-loss treatments through stimulating this specific nervous activity." Muscle sympathetic nerve activity was measured by microneurography, a process involving the insertion of metal microelectrodes into nerve fascicles -- a bundle of nerve fibers. Researchers found weight loss was independently predicted by baseline resting muscle sympathetic nerve activity. The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.