Increasing Water Intake May Help Prevent, Treat Metabolic Syndrome
Science News Staff / Source
“The clinical significance of this
work is that it may encourage studies to evaluate whether simple increases in
water intake may effectively mitigate obesity and metabolic syndrome,” said Dr.
Miguel Lanaspa, a researcher in the Division of Renal Diseases and Hypertension
at the University of Colorado Denver.
Dr. Lanaspa and his colleagues
wanted to understand why vasopressin, which maintains the body’s water levels,
was elevated in those with obesity and diabetes.
They fed mice sugar water, specifically
fructose, and found that it stimulated the brain to make vasopressin.
The vasopressin in turn stored the
water as fat causing dehydration which triggered obesity.
Treating the rodents with non-sugary
water reduced the obesity.
“We found that it does this by working through a particular vasopressin receptor known as V1b,” Dr. Lanaspa said.
“This receptor has been known for a
while but no one has really understood its function.”
“We found that mice lacking V1b were
completely protected from the effects of sugar.”
“We also show that the
administration of water can suppress vasopressin and both prevent and treat
obesity.”
The scientists also discovered that
dehydration can stimulate the formation of fat.
“This explains why vasopressin is so
high in desert mammals as they do not have easy access to water. So vasopressin
conserves water by storing it as fat,” said Dr. Richard Johnson, also from the
Division of Renal Diseases and Hypertension at the University of Colorado
Denver.
The new data fit with observations
showing that obese people often have signs of dehydration, and explain why high
salt diets may also cause obesity and diabetes.
The team found that water therapy in
mice effectively protected against metabolic syndrome.
“The best way to block vasopressin
is to drink water,” Dr. Lanaspa said.
“This is hopeful because it means we
may have a cheap, easy way of improving our lives and treating metabolic
syndrome.”
“Sugar drives metabolic syndrome in
part by the activation of vasopressin. Vasopressin drives fat production likely
as a mechanism for storing metabolic water.”
“The potential roles of hydration
and salt reduction in the treatment of obesity and metabolic syndrome should be
considered.”
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Ana Andres-Hernando et
al. Vasopressin mediates fructose-induced metabolic syndrome by activating
the V1b receptor. JCI Insight, published online December 15, 2020;
doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.140848