AMPK is an enzyme that is in all of our cells. Its' job is to regulate metabolism, or 'energy homeostasis'. When activated, It burns sugars and increases insulin sensitivity, burns fat, decreases inflammation and improves muscle performance.
Sounds pretty good right? Let's look a little closer:
AMPK and Metabolism:
Low blood sugar activates AMPK in the brain, which stimulates the breakdown of glucose into energy in cells, tells the liver to make glucose and for glucose to be taken up into the muscles. It also inhibits the storage of glucose as glycogen
AMPK promotes the breakdown of fats for energy and inhibits the production of fatty acids and cholesterol
AMPK Affects weight loss by stimulating this burning of carbs and fat, but AMPK in the brain increases appetite (our bodies are so smart!)
Ghrelin is the hunger hormone, and it is this that activates AMPK in the brain. A study in mice looked at AMPK in mice - when it was activated in their brains, it caused them to be more hungry and eat more. But when it was inhibited, they ate less and loss weight.
So AMPK in the body = burning/potential weight loss, and AMPK in the brain = signals to eat more. So that means ideally we want to activate it outside of the brain!
How?!
Exercise: HIIT activates it best, and has the added benefits of increasing insulin sensitivity. But exercise also activates it in our brains to refuel.
Lipoic Acid (ALA): It is thought ALA stimulates AMPK in muscles ad decreases the hypothalmic stimulation resulting in decreased appetite, but we need more studies!
Calorie restriction: Overeating inhibits AMPK, and restriction of calories stimulates another hormone 'adiponectin' which activates AMPK in skeletal muscle.
Decreasing glucose and insulin: High glucose and high insulin both inhibit AMPK, so bringing down these levels will help stimulate AMPK.
Polyphenols: Some polyphenols have animal studies on increasing AMPK. Polyphenols are the brightly coloured plant compounds with antioxidant activities. A few examples are reservatrol, quercitin, Curcumin, ECGC and anthrocyanins found in grapeseed extract and blueberries.
Although we really need some better quality studies, there is a few things to get you started!
I can write my next blog post on the things that can negatively stimulate AMPK (in the brain) to increase hunger! It is all so incredibly interesting to me!
Let me know if you want to learn more about it!!
Dr. C
References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2779044/#:~:text=AMP%2Dactivated%20protein%20kinase%20(AMPK,increase%20the%20AMP%2FATP%20ratio.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4855276/