Researchers at the University of Ottowa have identified a separate group of obese people who are especially resistant to losing weight through dietary changes alone, according to a report published on Wednesday in The Lancet’s eBioMedicine journal.
“If you look at a large group of people who are overweight and trying to lose weight, they don’t respond to exercise very much.
Those considered to have “diet-resistant” obesity fall in the bottom 20% for the rate of weight loss while following a low-calorie diet.
Fat metabolism in the skeletal muscle is regulated by the mitochondria, and those with “diet-resistant” obesity show lower mitochondrial activity in their bones than those with “diet-sensitive” obesity, according to the researchers.
“For those individuals who have obesity and who’ve had enormous difficulty losing weight, the message for them is: You are in a group of individuals for whom exercise is particularly important,” McPhereson added.