Researchers find brain perceives weight loss as a survival riskResearchers at the University of Copenhagen have found that the brain perceives weight loss as a threat to survival and actively works to restore the body to its previous mass. This process is driven by a biological "memory" in the brain that aims to return the organism to its habitual weight set point. For human ancestors, sudden weight loss was a sign of famine or illness, so the brain established a setting to restore fat reserves as quickly as possible at the first opportunity." The researchers noted that the weight regulation system is primarily formed between birth and age seven. A central limitation is that current therapies cannot completely "erase" the brain's memory of its previous weight.