Does Too Much Sunlight Make You Fat? A team of researchers has now discovered that men can react to a lot of light with a lot of hunger. The reason for this is probably found in the hormones.
The sun is shining, your stomach is growling. A problem that mainly men know. Because, as a study from Israel has now found out, sunlight acts like an appetizer on the male sex. This is the hunger hormone ghrelin. Women, on the other hand, are fine.
Hunger can be felt in the stomach, but it arises in the head. The hypothalamus is responsible for secreting the hormones that make you feel hungry or full. This not only depends on when we last ate, but also on olfactory triggers – i.e. when we smell or see something that makes our mouth water. Whether we are hungry or not is the result of a complex interaction between external stimuli, our hormones and the brain. And indeed, according to scientists, the sun also plays a role in how hungry people are.
Men and women react differently to light
This connection was noticed in the context of a nutritional study that was carried out in Israel. The research team from Tel Aviv University evaluated the data from 3,000 participants and found that men consumed an unusually large number of calories in the summer months, i.e. at times when there are many hours of sunshine – much more than in winter. An effect that didn’t seem to work for women. The scientists then tested the influence of light on a group of men and women. The participants were exposed to lamps for 25 minutes a day. As a result, the men – and only the men – reported a strong feeling of hunger afterwards, according to Shivang Parikh, who was in charge of the study.
The same was observed in the test in mice. The appetite of the rodents also grew, and an increased ghrelin concentration in the blood could also be detected in them. As a result, the animals ate more and gained weight. The results of the study have now been published in the journal “nature metabolism”.
Hormones affect hunger
Why do women and men react so differently to the sun? In the course of further investigations, the researchers found out that the answer can probably be found in the sex hormones testosterone and estrogen. Sunlight, more precisely UV light, stimulates the fat cells in the skin to release the hormone ghrelin more. Ghrelin is also known as the hunger hormone. The male sex hormone testosterone amplifies this effect, while estrogen inhibits it. “This blocks the positive effect of solar radiation on appetite and food intake in women,” the research team said.
That the skin can have an influence on whether we are hungry or not is a new finding. Scientists see this as an opportunity for novel treatment approaches. In the future, men suffering from loss of appetite could possibly be treated with light therapy.
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Source: Stern
