Energy balance
Targeting energy expenditure through thermogenic pathways (such as UCP1, futile creatine, calcium, or lipid cycles) is a viable therapeutic strategy for promoting negative energy balance and sustaining weight loss, distinct from appetite suppression.
While lifestyle changes are foundational, they often fail long-term due to biological counter-regulation. Future treatments may focus on boosting energy expenditure through specific cellular mechanisms (like thermogenesis in fat or muscle) rather than just restricting calories. For now, understanding that your body fights weight loss through increased hunger and reduced expenditure is key to managing expectations.
Identifying natural mechanisms within our cells and tissues that promote energy expenditure is thus attractive and has received a lot of attention recently... targeting energy expenditure may be a viable option for promoting negative energy balance and sustaining weight loss.
Why this rating
The paper is a perspective/review summarizing preclinical and some clinical data, not a single primary clinical trial.
Source
Promoting metabolic inefficiency for metabolic disease
Lawrence Kazak · iScience · 2023
DOI 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107843
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