ArticleNature metabolism2022
Prolonged breastfeeding protects from obesity by hypothalamic action of hepatic FGF21.
Article in Nature metabolism, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
37 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 60 citations in OpenAlex.
- Liver Brain Interactions: Focus on FGF21 a Systematic Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Pooled it
- Tanycytes: bloodhounds of the metabolic brain.Trends in endocrinology and metabolism: TEM · 2026Review
- Hypothalamic regulation of energy homeostasis: Quo vadis.Reviews in endocrine & metabolic disorders · 2026Review
- Article
- The role of tanycytes in the regulation of energy balance.Reviews in endocrine & metabolic disorders · 2026Review
- Exclusive Breastfeeding Drives AMPK-Dependent Thermogenic Memory in BAT and Promotes Long-Term Metabolic Benefits in Offspring.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Adipokine in Metabolic Liver Disease: Adipo-Brain-Liver Cross talk.International journal of endocrinology · 2026Review
- Article
- Immune development differs between preterm newborns fed mothers' own milk and donor milk.iScience · 2025Article
- Aerobic Exercise Activates Fibroblast Growth Factor 21 and Alleviates Cardiac Ischemia/Reperfusion-induced Neuronal Oxidative Stress and Ferroptosis in Paraventricular Nucleus.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Article
- Elevated plasma GDF15 combined with FGF21 suggests mitochondrial dysfunction in a subgroup of anorexia nervosa patients.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
- White Adipocyte Stem Cell Expansion Through Infant Formula Feeding: New Insights into Epigenetic Programming Explaining the Early Protein Hypothesis of Obesity.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- FGF-based drug discovery: advances and challenges.Nature reviews. Drug discovery · 2025Review
- Maternal circadian rhythms during pregnancy dictate metabolic plasticity in offspring.Cell metabolism · 2025Article
- Regulating Integrin β1 to Restore Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone-Tanycyte Unit Function in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome-Related Hypothalamic Dysregulation.Research (Washington, D.C.) · 2025Article
- Human milk feeding practices and serum immune profiles of one-year-old infants in the CHILD birth cohort study.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2025Observational
- Dynamic synthetic-scanning photoacoustic tracking monitors hepatic and renal clearance pathway of exogeneous probes in vivo.Light, science & applications · 2024Article
- Effects of Kv1.3 knockout on pyramidal neuron excitability and synaptic plasticity in piriform cortex of mice.Acta pharmacologica Sinica · 2024Article
- Estrogen receptor-α signaling in tanycytes lies at the crossroads of fertility and metabolism.Metabolism: clinical and experimental · 2024Article
- Tanycytic transcytosis inhibition disrupts energy balance, glucose homeostasis and cognitive function in male mice.Molecular metabolism · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
34 authors at 7 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Early-life determinants are thought to be a major factor in the rapid increase of obesity. However, while maternal nutrition has been extensively studied, the effects of breastfeeding by the infant on the reprogramming of energy balance in childhood and throughout adulthood remain largely unknown. Here we show that delayed weaning in rat pups protects them against diet-induced obesity in adulthood, through enhanced brown adipose tissue thermogenesis and energy expenditure. In-depth metabolic phenotyping in this rat model as well as in transgenic mice reveals that the effects of prolonged suckling are mediated by increased hepatic fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) production and tanycyte-controlled access to the hypothalamus in adulthood. Specifically, FGF21 activates GABA-containing neurons expressing dopamine receptor 2 in the lateral hypothalamic area and zona incerta. Prolonged breastfeeding thus constitutes a protective mechanism against obesity by affecting long-lasting physiological changes in liver-to-hypothalamus communication and hypothalamic metabolic regulation.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.