Men And Women React Differently To Fat

A new study found that male and female brains react in remarkably different ways to high-fat meals. Those differences in the brain lead to inflammation and increased health risks in males that indulge on these foods in comparison to females.

The findings published in the Cell Press journal on October 16th may help to explain differences in obesity outcomes between women and men, premenopausal women carrying extra weight fare better than men do, and suggest that dietary advice should be more sex-specific.

Deborah Clegg of the Cedar-Sinai Diabetes And Obesity Research Institute in Los Angeles  said that males should be aware of this fact before indulging in fatty meals.

“Our findings, for the first time, suggest that males and females respond to high-fat diets differently. The data would suggest that is probably ‘ok’ for females to occasionally have a high-fat meal, where it is not recommended for males.”

“The way we treat patients and provide dietary and nutritional advice should be altered. We might be less concerned about an occasional hamburger for women, but for men, we might more strongly encourage avoidance, especially if they have pre-existing diseases such as heart disease or type 2 diabetes.”