A study team from the Universitat Rovira I Virgili (Tarragona – Spain) has discovered that following a diet full of sugars and fats from ultra-processed foods (for instance, sweet rolls and pastries) over a six-week period increases the number of inflammatory molecules in the organism, which increases the excitability of the muscle nerves and therefor muscle pain. This is called musculoskeletal neurotransmission.
The experiments were carried out in male Swiss mice. One group was given a normal cafeteria diet, high in added sugars (for instance, sweet rolls and pastries), and another was given a high fat diet for a period of six weeks. The researchers then calculated the intramuscular adipocytes and utilized electromyography to evaluate musculoskeletal neurotransmission, the response of the muscle nerves or muscle pain.
The mice who’d been fed a cafeteria diet showed more adipocytes in the muscle tissue however the same cannot be stated to the fat-rich diet. However, both groups showed an increase in neuromuscular transmission that lasted for several weeks following the termination of the diets. The study concludes that a six-week hypercaloric diet in mice increases neurotransmission, which contributes to the development of muscle pain. After this period, the mice quickly regained their usual weight although the neurotransmission parameters remained high for many weeks.
In Western societies, the rate of obesity and overweight is obviously increasing. Between 1975 and 2016 the speed of planet obesity tripled. Obesity and overweight are regarded as an epidemic that is connected with the development of these pathologies as diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome and muscle pain.
Studies indicate that there’s a strong relationship between obesity and pain. Ordinarily, the association between obese and pain was attributed to an increase in mechanical stress brought on by the excess weight which has to be encouraged by the weight-bearing joints. The study that’s just been published in the journal Nutrients “reveals an association between pain and overweight that is independent of mechanical overload and it is probable that it involves systemic phenomena of the organism” says Manel Santafe, one of the authors of the study.
Related Journal Article: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/10/3216