Solar radiation stimulates the “hunger hormone” ghrelin from the fat cells of the skin. This discovery was made by scientists from Tel Aviv University (Israel), whose article was published in the journal Nature Metabolism.
Professor of molecular genetics and biochemistry Carmit Levy and her colleagues, who conducted experiments on mice, paid attention to the fact that by observing the increase in light intensity, males, but not females, the reader observed more intense search for food, significantly more food and gain weight.
In the blood of males, the level of the hormone ghrelin, which is responsible for the feeling of hunger and appetite, is increased.
Ghrelin has been found to be associated with allergic cells (adipocytes) in skin tissues. This occurs as a result of photographing the DNA of adipocytes.
In the female, this effect is not observed, since the female sex hormones estrogens block the release of ghrelin from adipocytes.
Laboratory experiments on male skin tissue confirmed that after five days of exposure to ultraviolet light, ghrelin levels are indeed captured. Scientists also conducted experiments with separate groups of sexes, which were carried out for 25 minutes at work in the middle of a cloudless day.
In the blood of men, the concentration of ghrelin increased, but not in the blood of women.
The coincidence of such a result in real life, Levy and her colleagues analyzed the results of a survey of life, which involved about three thousand Israelis, who recorded everything they ate daily for a year.
It turned out that men, unlike women, between March and the season consume about 300 calories more per day with food than in the rest of the months of the year, which may be enough to gain weight.