9 thoughts on “Obesity”

  1. Sounds like good news, but of course I find these kinds of clueless articles awfully annoying. The author clearly always thought that you just count calories in and out and that tells you whether you gain or lose weight. And lo and behold a exciting study that shows otherwise. Pretty much everyone should have known already that that wasn’t true.

  2. I wonder what, if any, side effects there are in turning off that switch.

    Also, I hope it can be turned back on.

    1. I was wondering the same. If eating habits are not changed and just as much fat is being produced, what happens to it it is isn’t stored? I suppose it is “expelled”.

      1. “If eating habits are not changed and just as much fat is being produced, what happens to it it is isn’t stored?”

        What is produced by the gut is glucose, called “blood sugar”, by diabetics. IIRC, it is inside the fat cells that glucose is turned into fat, because fat is not as reactive as glucose, and does not cause “glycosilation” of proteins and lipoproteins in the structure of the body the way glucose does. Thus, it’s a better store of energy than glucose for long-term storage.

        One thing that may happen is that blood sugar becomes higher, causing the symptoms seen in Type 2 diabetics. If, on the other hand, there is simultaneous stimulation of muscles, brain, and other tissue, to burn glucose, then glycosilation can be kept at normal levels. Yes, it’s happening inside you right now, and is bad for you, but not as bad as losing all your glucose.

    2. What could possibly go wrong? /sarc

      This might prove to be a valuable tool in fighting obesity. Still, I think I’ll give it a few years before considering using it myself. It seems quite a few of these so-called miracle solutions have some bad side effects, such as Fen Phen and heart disease.

  3. There was an article recently (sorry, no link) about how the children of Holocaust survivors may have inherited the stress of that situation via DNA changes. Another recent discovery is that human beings have a gene that allows them to synthesize Vitamin C from ultraviolet radiation in the skin (same with Vitamin D), but the gene is now dormant because of our ability to get way more Vitamin C than we need from citrus.

    Is it possible that the gene to which they refer was activated by the food shortages of the Depression? If the Holocaust could cause DNA changes that result in PTSD symptoms in the children of survivors, why not the Depression?

    1. “Another recent discovery is that human beings have a gene that allows them to synthesize Vitamin C from ultraviolet radiation in the skin (same with Vitamin D), but the gene is now dormant because of our ability to get way more Vitamin C than we need from citrus.”

      I find that a little difficult to believe given that Age of Sail sailors got scurvy on a regular basis until they ate more vitamin C.

      Did the paper address that?

      And those guys spent their lives in the sun.

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