Summer sunshine can leave us feeling hot, sweaty and a bit burnt – but it may also make men hungrier, by triggering the release of an appetite-boosting hormone from fat stores in their skin, data suggests.
The study, which was published in the journal Nature Metabolism, adds to growing evidence that the effects of sun exposure may be more complex than first thought.
Excessive exposure is well known to increase the risk of skin cancer, but recent studies have suggested moderate exposure may increase life expectancy, on average, by helping to protect against cardiovascular disease and other causes of death.
Carlos Diéguez and Rubén Nogueiras, professors at the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain who were not involved in the study, described the results as “exciting”, adding that future studies assessing the influence of age and ethnicity in relation to UVB exposure and food intake would be “eagerly awaited”. “This work will surely pave the way for further studies on the role of the skin in energy and metabolic homeostasis [balance], a field that had largely been overlooked,” they wrote in an accompanying news and views in Nature Metabolism.
