Scientists Discovered The 'Missing' Amino Acid That Triggered 30% Weight Loss in Just One Week
According to the World Health Organization, adult obesity has more than doubled since the 1990s, while adolescent obesity has quadrupled. Despite various diet strategies like low-carb and low-fat plans, GLP-1 medications, and different exercise routines aimed at reducing obesity, the numbers continue to rise with no clear end in sight. However, a new study suggests there may be a way to lose a meaningful amount of weight in as little as one week.
The study, published in Nature, found that mice that were genetically modified to stop producing a specific amino acid (cysteine) while being fed a cysteine-free diet, lost 30 percent of their body weight in just one week.
Cysteine is a sulfur-containing amino acid important for protein synthesis and various metabolic processes within the body. Researchers believe that when cysteine isn't present, our body will begin to break down fat stores.
'Our surprising findings reveal that low cysteine levels triggered rapid fat loss in our study mice by activating a network of interconnected biological pathways,' co-senior study author Evgeny A. Nudler, PhD, professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, said in a statement.
According to the authors, the study is the first to show that removing cysteine causes more weight loss than removing any other essential amino acid. Because cysteine is vital for oxidative phosphorylation, without it, the body can't use sugar molecules efficiently and burns fat instead.It was noted that cysteine depletion can also trigger stress responses that increase hormones that suppress appetite and break down fat-making enzymes. This combination prevents fat storage and leads to weight loss.
'While driving weight loss in the clinic remains a key future mission, we are most excited for the moment about the profound, fundamental aspects of metabolism revealed in this study,' added Dr. Nudler.
Researchers note, though, that this is not a foolproof way to induce weight loss in humans, especially given that cysteine is found in a majority of foods. To achieve a diet completely free of cysteine, patients would need to consume a specially formulated diet. They also added that because cysteine is involved in numerous cellular pathways, removing it could increase the concentration of everyday toxins.
'Given that achieving maximum cysteine deprivation weight loss in the mice was dependent on both diet and deletion of the gene, moving forward we can now restore cysteine production genetically in specific cells or tissues and determine the role of each in the dramatic weight loss we observed,' said co-senior author Dan R. Littman, MD, PhD. 'We hope in the future to hijack parts of this process to induce a similar weight loss in humans but without completely removing cysteine.'
Scientists Discovered The 'Missing' Amino Acid That Triggered 30% Weight Loss in Just One Week first appeared on Men's Journal on May 27, 2025
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