Researchers Study Bears for Insight on Obesity
OutdoorHub Reporters 12.17.13
Bears, grizzlies in particular, are known for their ability to plump up just before winter. Their ability to stay healthy while packing on the pounds has put these animals in the spotlight for a new study on obesity.
According to The Wall Street Journal, researcher Kevin Corbit with the pharmaceutical company Amgen recently traveled to Washington State University to study how bears stay healthy during this period. The university’s bear facility is unique in that it is not only state-of-the-art, but also one of the only captive grizzly research facilities in the world.
Grizzlies retreat into hibernation for roughly six months every year, laying dormant through the majority of winter. Since the bears do not eat during this period, they must consume an enormous amount of food beforehand. It is not unusual for grizzlies gouging on fatty salmon and other foods to gain more than 400 pounds of fat before entering their dens. Despite this, Corbit said that the sudden intake of fatty foods does not cause the bears’ health to deteriorate. While their blood pressure does increase, the animals do not suffer from problems such as heart failure or even a sudden onset of diabetes. Corbit hopes that the bears’ secret to good health can be put to good use with humans.
According to the National Park Service, grizzlies can lose between 15 to 30 percent of their body weight during hibernation. The animals do not eat, defecate, or urinate during hibernation and their heart rate slows to eight to 19 beats per minute. The fat that bears build up during the preceding months is slowly burned up during hibernation, and the animal reappears slimmer and noticeably lighter.
The Daily Mail reported that Corbit is interested in the chemical processes that occur just before hibernation, specifically how the bears change their sensitivity to the hormone insulin, the mechanism which controls how fats and sugars are broken down for energy. When the bears enter hibernation, they ignore the hormone in order to draw on their fat reserves. Corbit believes that the answer of how to lose large amounts of weight safely can be found in these metabolic processes. To this end, the researcher and his team will be spending two years studying grizzly fat deposits and drawing blood tests.
“I want to learn how the grizzly bears work their magic,” said Alexander Kamb, an executive at Amgen who is overseeing the project.
In addition to sponsoring this study, Amgen is also the second largest independent biopharmaceutical firm in the world.
