Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Fat Sack
We are, if you believe the hype, in the midst of a great and terrifying obesity epidemic. Hell, even if you don't believe the hype, a trip to your local shopping mall (especially if you live in the South or Midwest) will provide all the evidence you need. The question then is: why is it happening, and what can we do about it?
Understanding the why can lead to the what-to-do. On top of my list, besides our increasingly-sedentary society, is fructose sweeteners. In the US especially (due to ridiculous sugar tariffs designed to guarantee votes from Cubans in Florida), almost any food you buy is laced with high fructose corn syrup.
Besides being a source of boundless empty calories, new research further confirms that this crap is actively bad for you: compared to glucose-sweetened drinks, volunteers drinking fructose-sweetened ones had increased LDL ('bad') cholesterol, triglycerides, and other measures of atherosclerosis risk. This is why I read labels and avoid the stuff.
What else makes people fat? Stress! Georgetown researchers confirmed that chronically stressed mice got fatter, and put the fat in more unhealthy places (around the abdomen) than did non-stressed mice, and that Neuropeptide Y appears to be a major culprit in this pathway. Blocking NPY made fat cells shrink and excess fat 'melt' away. Ignoring the likely side-effects, where's my anti-NPY?!!
So, if you wanna lose weight: stop eating fructose-sweetened food, be less stressed, and, oh yeah, GET SOME EXERCISE!!!!
On a tangentially-related note, it turns out that those 'probiotic' yogurt thingeys, containing Lactobacillus casei, L bulgaricus, and Streptococcus thermophilus, really do reduce your risk of getting diarrhea after antibiotic treatment. Cool!
Understanding the why can lead to the what-to-do. On top of my list, besides our increasingly-sedentary society, is fructose sweeteners. In the US especially (due to ridiculous sugar tariffs designed to guarantee votes from Cubans in Florida), almost any food you buy is laced with high fructose corn syrup.
Besides being a source of boundless empty calories, new research further confirms that this crap is actively bad for you: compared to glucose-sweetened drinks, volunteers drinking fructose-sweetened ones had increased LDL ('bad') cholesterol, triglycerides, and other measures of atherosclerosis risk. This is why I read labels and avoid the stuff.
What else makes people fat? Stress! Georgetown researchers confirmed that chronically stressed mice got fatter, and put the fat in more unhealthy places (around the abdomen) than did non-stressed mice, and that Neuropeptide Y appears to be a major culprit in this pathway. Blocking NPY made fat cells shrink and excess fat 'melt' away. Ignoring the likely side-effects, where's my anti-NPY?!!
So, if you wanna lose weight: stop eating fructose-sweetened food, be less stressed, and, oh yeah, GET SOME EXERCISE!!!!
On a tangentially-related note, it turns out that those 'probiotic' yogurt thingeys, containing Lactobacillus casei, L bulgaricus, and Streptococcus thermophilus, really do reduce your risk of getting diarrhea after antibiotic treatment. Cool!
Labels: antibiotics, cholesterol, diet, endocrinology, fat, health, NPY, obesity, science, stress
Monday, April 30, 2007
The Easy Way Out
Sick of spending all that time at the gym, and eating nothing but celery and soy protein, hoping to lose weight? Fear not, science may soon have an answer! US researchers claim that they've developed a pill that makes mice burn fat and improve muscle tone, without any exercise. The drug seems to activate PPAR-delta, which 'turns on' fat metabolism.
The drug could be useful for treating metabolic syndrome and muscular wasting disorders, but in all honesty, we all just want to eat more chocolate.
And you know what goes well with chocolate? Cherries! The good news is that tart cherries appear to have positive effects on blood pressure, cholesterol, and glucose tolerance. The study is in rats, and the doses rather impressively high, but still this could be encouraging data - and a good excuse for more cherry pie, just like you remember from when you were a kid.
You remember that, right? If you don't, there may be a pill for that too: MIT researchers have found that inhibiting HDACs could reverse memory loss associated with neurodegeneration. Which, if it works in humans, will be a GINORMOUS leap forward in treating Alzheimer's and related disorders.
Alas, there is still no pill to cure stupidity. Graham points us to a particularly stunning example of the modern trend of pathologizing everything, combined with a healthy dose of bloody moronic.
The drug could be useful for treating metabolic syndrome and muscular wasting disorders, but in all honesty, we all just want to eat more chocolate.
And you know what goes well with chocolate? Cherries! The good news is that tart cherries appear to have positive effects on blood pressure, cholesterol, and glucose tolerance. The study is in rats, and the doses rather impressively high, but still this could be encouraging data - and a good excuse for more cherry pie, just like you remember from when you were a kid.
You remember that, right? If you don't, there may be a pill for that too: MIT researchers have found that inhibiting HDACs could reverse memory loss associated with neurodegeneration. Which, if it works in humans, will be a GINORMOUS leap forward in treating Alzheimer's and related disorders.
Alas, there is still no pill to cure stupidity. Graham points us to a particularly stunning example of the modern trend of pathologizing everything, combined with a healthy dose of bloody moronic.
Labels: Alzheimers, cherries, cholesterol, diet, drugs, exercise, fat, HDAC, hunger, hypertension, memory, metabolic syndrome, metabolism, obesity, pills, PPAR-delta, stupidity
