Obesity: Why are we getting fat? :epizza:

[Michaelangelica]

Obese Children Often Suffer From Iron Deficiency, Causing Behavioral Problems

Obese Children Often Suffer From Iron Deficiency, Causing Behavioral Problems

[Michaelangelica]

From causes to cures now.

Evodiamine.

 

By: Clayton South

 

Evodiamine is a bioactive alkaloid extract from a plant called Evodiae Fructus. This is a Chinese herb named Wu-Chu-Yu that Chinese herbalist have used for centuries as a weight loss supplement. No known human studies have been published to date.

 

Based on studies done in laboratories using isolated cells and rodents, evodiamine can raise body temperature, inhibit the growth and metastases of certain cancer cells in vitro, influence the metabolism of certain drugs, and influence the secretion of catecholamines from the adrenal glands.

Bodybuilding.com - Clayton South - Clayton's Health Facts: Evodiamine.

Evodiamine improves diet-induced obesity in a uncoupling protein-1-independent manner: involvement of antiadipogenic mechanism and extracellularly regulated kinase/mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling.

 

Endocrinology. 2008 Jan;149(1):358-66

 

Authors: Wang T, Wang Y, Kontani Y, Kobayashi Y, Sato Y, Mori N, Yamashita H

 

Evodiamine is an alkaloidal compound with antiobesity effects that have been thought to be due to uncoupling protein-1 (UCP1) thermogenesis similar to the effects of capsaicin, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood.

To clarify the mechanisms, we first examined whether the antiobesity effect of evodiamine could be attributed to the involvement of UCP1. When UCP1-knockout mice were fed a high-fat diet with 0.03% evodiamine (wt/wt) for 2 months, the increases in body weight, adiposity, and the serum levels of leptin and insulin were reduced in a manner indistinguishable from control mice fed a high-fat diet with evodiamine, suggesting that evodiamine triggered a UCP1-independent mechanism to prevent diet-induced obesity. By using preadipocyte cultures, we found that evodiamine, but not capsaicin, increased phosphorylation of ERK/MAPK, reduced the expression of transcription factors such as peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma, and strongly inhibited adipocyte differentiation. Evodiamine treatment also reduced insulin-stimulated phosphorylation of Akt, a crucial regulator of adipocyte differentiation; and the reduction of phosphorylated-Akt and augmentation of phosphorylated ERK were reversed by blockade of the MAPK kinase/MAPK signaling pathway, restoring adipogenesis in the cultures.

The changes in ERK and Akt phosphorylation levels were also observed in white adipose tissues of UCP1-knockout mice fed the evodiamine diet.

These findings suggest that evodiamine has a potential to prevent the development of diet-induced obesity in part by inhibiting adipocyte differentiation through ERK activation and its negative cross talk with the insulin signaling pathway.

 

PMID: 17884939 [PubM

ed - indexed for MEDLINE]

[paigetheoracle]

of interest to this thread may be research on The Paradoxical Frog and the effects of Black Tea (Ulster and Dundee Universities respectively) as it relates to insulin production. In both cases the research is aimed at diabetics but overweight people are more likely to suffer from this condition, than those with an average weight to height ratio. Also as I mentioned in an earlier post, I believe there's an insulin connection between migraine attacks and hypoglycaemia.

[Michaelangelica]

there is an 'alternative theory' of fat that says toxins are wrapped in fat by the body and stored away from harm

This certainly may be the case with mammals from the Californian coast

But does it apply to humans?

 

The rise in worldwide obesity rates parallel the increase in environmental toxicity. Meanwhile, cancer rates continue to rise; the WHO believes that cancer rates may increase by more than 50% by 2020. Meanwhile, more studies show that cancerous tumors are storehouses of high concentrations of toxic man-made chemicals.

 

There are many theories and studies that establish the connections in the unholy triad, and research studies are piling up with results demonstrating just these links: Toxins can make you fat, and that fatness by itself is a risk factor for cancer. Together, toxins and obesity provide a one-two punch that is devastating the American people through the intrinsic damage of both toxins and obesity.

The numbers are staggering: 68% of Americans, and growing, are overweight. More than 34% are obese. These numbers are expected to continue rising, with 3 of 4 Americans overweight, and nearly half the population is projected to be obese by 2015, according to a Johns-Hopkins study.

 

These increases mirror the increases in cancer rates having risen enough to overtake heart disease as the number-one killer of Americans younger than 85. In fact, cancer has overtaken accidents to become the number one killer of children age 1 to 14.

 

So what is at work here? How is there a connection between cancer, obesity, and toxicity? The World Cancer Research Fund found a link to obesity in six types of cancers. The implications are that many more types of cancers may be linked as well.

 

The entire process may be an adaptation to conditions of modern life. The body's innate wisdom is using two simultaneously occurring metabolic trends to protect our physiological processes. We know that toxicity can severely damage and alter physiology. For example, many industrial chemicals mimic the effects of estrogen in the body. We call these compounds xenoestrogens, and they are all around us, in the form of flame retardants, pesticides, plastics, and many thousands of other chemicals.

 

For example, plastic bottles and containers exude dozens of chemicals. Many of these chemicals, for example bisphenol A and phthalates, are xenoestrogens. Bisphenol A, or BPA, causes cellular changes in the male prostate gland cells that lead to prostate cancer. This carcinogen is found in polycarbonate plastics such as Lexan™ and Nalgene™ products. Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer in men, and the number one killer of men over 75. To complete the link described in this article, obesity more than doubles the chances of men getting prostate cancer. Compared to thin men, obese men tend to get much more aggressive forms of prostate cancer, as well as increases in the chances of both recurrence and metastasis

.

The Link Between Obesity, Cancer, and Toxicity (Part 1)

[paigetheoracle]

there is an 'alternative theory' of fat that says toxins are wrapped in fat by the body and stored away from harm

This certainly may be the case with mammals from the Californian coast

But does it apply to humans?

 

.

The Link Between Obesity, Cancer, and Toxicity (Part 1)

 

Personally it wouldn't surprise me. It might also answer the question why The Pima Indians suddenly went overweight after changing to The White Mans diet (It would be interesting to know when their weight gain started as it might be a histamine reaction to wheat, rather than chemicals in the food).

[Michaelangelica]

paigetheoracle

there is a lot we don't know about this; and a lot we presume to know.

"For every problem there is an easy answer and it is wrong"

Michael Pollan: Don't Eat Anything That Doesn't Rot

 

By Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!. Posted March 8, 2008.

 

Consumers are getting duped by the food industry, paying the price with their health.

 

Acclaimed author and journalist Michael Pollan argues that what most Americans are consuming today is not food but "edible foodlike substances." His previous book, The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, was named one of 2006's ten best books by the New York Times and the Washington Post. His latest book is called In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto.

Michael Pollan: Don't Eat Anything That Doesn't Rot | Health and Wellness | AlterNet

[Michaelangelica]

Michael Hanlon: One of my chapters is 'Why Are We All Getting So Fat?' I'm no stranger to the dessert trolley myself but if you look at some parts of world, particularly in some parts of the US, people are really getting gargantuanly fat, and I think the answer is a little bit more complicated perhaps than the traditional view which is simply that we're eating more food and exercising less. The obesity epidemic is very, very recent; it started in the 1980s really in the US and then moved eastwards into Europe and parts of Asia. Really our diets and our exercise habits have not changed that dramatically in the last 30 years, nothing really changed in 1980 which is when the obesity epidemic started. Americans in the 1970s ate just about as much and owned just about as many cars as they did in the 1990s, and yet they have suddenly got fat.

 

I explore some of the slightly counterintuitive explanations for this. Maybe there is something peculiar in our new diets making us fat, these high-fructose corn syrups which people have blamed, the 'devil's candy'.

Maybe there is a viral link with obesity.

The more we discover about viruses the more they seem to crop up in all sorts of illnesses that used to be blamed on purely genetics or lifestyle.

We're discovering genes that predispose people to obesity.

Maybe there's a combination of virus, genes and diet that works in a particularly effective way, we simply don't know, but it's not as simple as 'calories in, calories out'.

 

Lots of experiments have been done.

There was a very interesting one in Sweden a couple of years ago where they put everybody on a super-sized diet.

They gave them all the equivalent of about 5,000 calories a day.

Some of them put on huge amounts of weight, some of them didn't.

What happens to those extra calories?

They fidget it off, they get hot. Some people do get fat more easily than others and I think that's something that science is beginning to discover.

Science Show - 12April2008 - Ten Questions Science Can't Answer (Yet!)

[freeztar]

The more we discover about viruses the more they seem to crop up in all sorts of illnesses that used to be blamed on purely genetics or lifestyle.

 

Indeed!

 

Viruses are still in the infancy stage of discovery. Viral research will provide us with the next "medical renaissance", imho.

[Michaelangelica]

Do viruses like microwaves?

 

Invention of the microwave unleashed global obesity ripple effect

The microwave oven first became a common household appliance in the mid-1980s. Wardle claims that the introduction of the microwave led to cheaper, easy meals -- including microwave dinners -- appearing in stores.

Invention of the microwave unleashed global obesity ripple effect

[freeztar]

Here's an interesting news item that presents reseach that shows that the amount of fat cells stays the same, even after losing lots of weight.

 

ABC News: Even After Weight Loss, Fat Cells Remain

[Michaelangelica]

Here's an interesting news item that presents reseach that shows that the amount of fat cells stays the same, even after losing lots of weight.

 

ABC News: Even After Weight Loss, Fat Cells Remain

that is very interesting

So, apart from keeping us alive during long winters, what other functions do fat cells have.

Soaking up toxic chemicals has been suggested. that might help account for the very high breast cancer rate

 

This (below) just reinforces all the judgemental stereotypes we have of fat people.

I probably shouldn't put it here but in "Beautiful Architecture" thread

But

It is funny

Lots more good stuff at the web site

Untitled Document

[mynah]

Personally it wouldn't surprise me. It might also answer the question why The Pima Indians suddenly went overweight after changing to The White Mans diet (It would be interesting to know when their weight gain started as it might be a histamine reaction to wheat, rather than chemicals in the food).

People whose ancestors had lived as hunter/gatherers for thousands of years, especially in areas such as deserts where food is scarce, often have difficulty in coping with a Western diet because they have evolved mechanisms that enable them to cope with long periods of starvation alternating with occasional bounty, such as when a large animal is killed and has to be consumed the same day.

 

My brother once worked as a cameraman on a film which featured three San (bushmen). After the first day of shooting, the crew and actors were treated to a huge spread. The San did what any sensible hunter-gatherer would have done in the desert, and ate prodigious amounts of food. As there was more than enough for everyone, no-one minded - until the next morning. They woke up to discover that the San had spectacularly expanded in size, which meant that all the scenes of the previous day featuring them had to be redone.

[Michaelangelica]

Over 40% of patients with schizophrenia are significantly overweight,1 and 30% to 60% of patients with severe mental illness have metabolic syndrome,2 which puts them at risk for medical conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD). CVD is a major cause of mortality in patients with schizophrenia,3 and type 2 diabetes is a major independent risk factor for CVD.4,5 While SGAs are associated with less incidence of extrapyramidal side effects than conventional agents, SGAs have been associated with weight gain,2 diabetes,6,7 dyslipidemia,2 and metabolic syndrome8 to varying degrees in patients with schizophrenia. Routine screening of patients with schizophrenia for metabolic abnormalities is necessary, but often mental health facilities are the only contact that patients with severe mental illness have with the health care community

The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry | CME Institute | MedFair | The Primary Care Companion

Many antipsycotic drugs (Zyprexa) and some anti-depressants can contribute to weight gain.

[Giles Corey]

Im not sure if anyone has said this already... (Its a large thread)

But there is a possible link between leached Bisphenol A and this wonderful new obesity fad.

Although I myself blame a lack of will power, granulated sugar, and a culture that divulges in fats oils and sugar.:eek::cake::(

And of course...cake.

[silver]

what people dont tell you is that there is a 'cure' for obesity and has been around since the 70's.

 

Oral hCG for the treatment of obesity

 

The HCG Challenge - Where losing is the only way to win!

 

Ive currently lost 55lbs using this method.

[LJP07]

Regarding Leptin, has a drug been developed yet where you can inject this into people so that it can prevent any overweight reactions from happened, as a training pharmacist I should know this, but I don't...so does anyone know of any developments in this area drug-wise?

[Monomer]

Regarding Leptin, has a drug been developed yet where you can inject this into people so that it can prevent any overweight reactions from happened, as a training pharmacist I should know this, but I don't...so does anyone know of any developments in this area drug-wise?

 

I don't think there's a drug available yet. Perhaps do a google/google scholar/pubmed search to see what's happening in that area. I had a quick look but I can't access the articles, but perhaps as a pharmacy student you'll be able to access them.