Thursday, February 04, 2010
Why Weight Loss Is Easier at High Altitude
Research suggests that high altitudes suppress appetite and increase metabolism.
By Emily Singer
Want to drop a few
pounds on your next vacation? Head for the mountains, the taller the better.
Researchers
from Germany studied 20 obese men both at low altitude in Munich and while
spending a week at 8700 feet, in a field
station near the peak of Germany's
highest mountain, Zugspitze. Participants lost an average of two pounds that
week and kept it off for the next month, without making any changes in diet or
activity levels. During their high altitude stay, the men were given
unrestricted access to food and restricted to short walks.
The
researchers found that basal metabolism increased at high altitude, though it's
not clear why. Levels of leptin, a hormone known to suppress hunger, also increased,
perhaps in response to decreased oxygen. Participants ate less, even after
symptoms of altitude sickness had disappeared. And they continued to eat less after returning
to Munich, at least during the four week follow-up period of the study. The research was published this month in the journal Obesity.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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