Research

Hormonal

Obesity is associated with increased expression of PPAR-gamma2 mRNA in human adipose tissue, with levels and the PPAR-gamma2/PPAR-gamma1 ratio positively correlating with BMI.

This research highlights that obesity involves a molecular upregulation of PPAR-gamma2, a key driver of fat cell formation. This suggests that the body's molecular machinery actively promotes fat storage in obesity, potentially making weight management biologically challenging. Understanding this mechanism underscores why simple caloric restriction might trigger compensatory molecular responses (like the rebound in PPAR-gamma2 seen during weight maintenance).

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Adipose expression of PPAR-gamma2 mRNA was increased in human obesity... There was a strong positive correlation (r = 0.70, P < 0.001) between the ratio of PPAR-gamma2/PPAR-gamma1 and the body mass index of these patients.
Antonio Vidal‐Puig et al. · Journal of Clinical Investigation · 1997

Why this rating

Human in vivo study with clear statistical correlation (r=0.70) and biological plausibility, though observational.

Source

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gene expression in human tissues. Effects of obesity, weight loss, and regulation by insulin and glucocorticoids.

Antonio Vidal‐Puig et al. · Journal of Clinical Investigation · 1997

DOI 10.1172/jci119424

cohort · n=45Cited 788×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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