Benefiting at work from Brain Based Insights

While antipsychotic drugs decrease serious symptoms of depression ... and other mood altering problems of millions ... they tend to come at a higher price than most realize. How so?

In some these drugs lead to excessive weight gain – which in turn triggers life-threatening diseases such as diabetes or heart disease. New answers seem to be on the way though.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University just uncovered the mechanism by which mood changing drugs stimulate a person’s appetite. This new discovery could lead to newer drugs  without the side ­effects for instance that leave people constantly hungry.

Check out how neuroscientists Solomon H. Snyder and Sangwon Kim gave clozapine, a powerful antipsychotic drug, to mice, and the animals responded with a spike of the appetite-stimulating enzyme, AMPK.

When the histamine was removed, these rodents showed no increase in AMPK – so that hunger is no longer stirred up in the hypothalamus, even after a person eats. Sounds like a plan for more effective weight loss is also in the pike – especially for people who take antihistamine daily, only to find pounds piling on.

What do you think?