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  • Fat? May not be diet....

    Chewing the fat: New theories on world's obesity pandemic

    Jul 01 11:33 PM US/Eastern

    Fatty hamburgers, sugar-laden sodas and a couch-potato lifestyle: these are the familiar villains in the crisis of obesity sweeping developed countries.

    But what if they had been convicted without fair trial?

    What if the global fat explosion had other causes?

    What, for instance, if air conditioning or lack of sleep helped make you fat? Or what if obesity were caused by a microbe -- what if, bang, you caught an unlucky sneeze and this made you chub out?

    These ideas challenge the mainstream view that the bulging waistlines of an advancing society can be overwhelmingly pinned to diet and lifestyle.

    The World Health Organisation (WHO) last September warned that a billion people were overweight and obese, and the toll could rise to 1.5 billion by 2015, driven by low- and middle-income countries.

    The WHO accepted there were "a number of factors" for this increase, but especially blamed "a global shift in diet towards increased energy, fat, salt and sugar intake, and a trend towards decreased physical activity due to the sedentary nature of modern work and transportation, and increasing urbanisation."

    Some worry that this view is dangerously monolithic.

    Writing on Tuesday in the International Journal of Obesity, a team of US public-health experts caution against focussing obsessively on the "Big Two" -- a slower lifestyle and modern food marketing.

    "This has created a hegemony whereby the importance of the Big Two is accepted as established and other putative factors are not seriously explored," they say. "The result may be well-intentioned but ill-founded proposals for reducing obesity rates."

    They contend the evidence against junk food, supersize-me portions and high-calorie corn syrup is "equivocal and largely circumstantial" and offer some intriguing ideas of their own for other drivers of the obesity tsunami.

    Among them:

    -- Industrial chemicals called endocrine disruptors that disturb metabolism, encouraging the formation of fat.

    -- Giving up smoking: people who give up cigarettes very often gain weight.

    -- Air conditioning, which establishes a comfortable temperature zone. In temperatures above this zone, people eat less. The rise in number of air-conditioned homes in the United States virtually mirrors the increase in the US obesity rate.

    -- Fat people marry other fat people. These individuals may be genetically vulnerable to obesity, a trait that could handed on to their children.

    Another hypothesis is that lack of sleep jolts the metabolic system into demanding doses of instant energy.

    University of Chicago researcher Esra Tasali notes that waistlines in modern societies started to expand when people started to sleep less. Today, the "sleep deficit" is about two hours per night compared with 40 years ago.

    In work unveiled at an obesity conference last October, Tasali recruited a group of healthy young adults and divided them into three groups. One group had eight hours' sleep; another had their sleep regime extended to 12 hours; and the third was limited to only four hours.

    The sleep-deprived group swiftly developed cravings for high-calorie sweets, and their metabolisms were akin to those of diabetics.

    Meanwhile, Nikhil Dhurandhar of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University believes obesity could be caused by a bug.

    At least 10 different pathogens are known to cause obesity in animals, causing dramatic changes to the metabolic system so that more energy gets converted into fat.

    Dhurandhar believes that something similar may happen among humans exposed to cousins of the common cold.

    He tested the stored blood of 500 Americans and found that 30 percent of obese people had antibodies for Ad-36, an adenovirus which causes coughing, sneezing and cold-like symptoms. Only 11 percent of people of normal body weight had this telltale of Ad-36 infection.

    Dhurandhar stresses, though, that infection is likely to be only of a bouquet of causes for obesity.

    "In 10 years, people may be able to walk into a clinic and be told that their obesity is due to X cause, such as genes, the endocrine system or pathogens. That may have a more productive outcome than a blanket treatment right now, (which) is not very successful."

    Neville Rigby, of the European Association for the Study of Obesity, says that such unconventional views usually get a good hearing among scientists, for no one claims to have a monopoly of wisdom when it comes to this fast-growing disease.

    "It's a very complex story, it's not a single issue," said Rigby. "But the overarching question is how much we consume and how much we burn."
    Dr. Mordrid
    Dr. Mordrid
    ----------------------------
    An elephant is a mouse built to government specifications.

    I carry a gun because I can't throw a rock 1,250 fps

  • #2
    Shocking.

    It almost seems like common sense that obesity is not limited to any one cause, nor that one becomes obese due to any one cause alone.

    I know for a fact that my weight gain was caused by a shift from a highly active (athletic) lifestyle to a more sedentary one, combined with a decrease in the hours I keep (lack of sleep, odd hours) and potentially some genetics passed down from one side of my family. My diet may not have helped, but my diet is no different than it was when I was skinny. In fact I eat healthier now than I ever did before.
    “And, remember: there's no 'I' in 'irony'” ~ Merlin Mann

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    • #3
      Originally posted by Jesterzwild
      Shocking.

      In fact I eat healthier now than I ever did before.
      Except when your here
      Juu nin to iro


      English doesn't borrow from other languages. It follows them down dark alleys, knocks them over, and goes through their pockets for loose grammar.

      Comment


      • #4
        Yes well, that would require consumption of something other than beer
        “And, remember: there's no 'I' in 'irony'” ~ Merlin Mann

        Comment


        • #5
          we have been over this, the 5 japanese food groups are 'rice','yakitori','pork','soy' and 'booze'
          Juu nin to iro


          English doesn't borrow from other languages. It follows them down dark alleys, knocks them over, and goes through their pockets for loose grammar.

          Comment


          • #6
            fat = calories in > calories expended.

            simple, whatever the cause.

            people don't adjust the intake unless someting dramatic/traumatic happens.

            i'm over what i should be, so don't jump on my back about it unless you want me to work harder and burn more calories

            Comment


            • #7
              I did a little experiment, albeit it was probably not too healthy, it showed very interesting results.
              January - started working out, lots of weights, mild cardio. Did not gain/lose any weight.
              Middle/End February - for a 2 week period I slowed down on my cardio and ate a LOT (footlong subway diet! wooht!). When working out I concentrated on doing big lifts, pushing my max etc. Over the two week period I went from 183lbs to 193lbs.
              End February to end of May - went back to regular weights and mild cardio, I had stayed at pretty much exactly 193lbs, never varying more than 2 lbs.
              Beginning of June - basically binge ate again (even more than the last) and did BIG lifts, this time little to no cardio, period of 2 weeks, went up to 201lbs.
              Middle June till now - went back to normal diet/exercise, immediately dropped back to about 195lbs within TWO DAYS of stopping my excessive diet.

              Couple of things I found out -
              #1 it is MUCH easier to put on weight than lose, even for a generally skinny guy such as myself, so if you are a skinny guy trying to gain fat because you look like a twig: beware.
              #2 eating as much as I did is NOT good for me, I just never felt myself
              #3 having that many nutrients in my body DID help me build muscle quicker, but I also put on a lot of fat (close to 50/50).
              #4 when I hit 201lbs, even though I was pretty proud because I had never hit near that mark before, I felt slow on my feet - wasn't worth it.
              #5 it was in a way good to see that it actually WAS possible for me to gain weight, something which I found impossible at a younger age, now that I know it is possible I won't ever eat like I did so I could see immediate results, it should work over a longer term as well.
              #6 I increased my benchpress max BIGTIME, and mostly over those periods when I ate a lot. I started from near scratch working out in January, bp about 180lbs max, I can already do 280lbs. (no roids) [btw I am 6'2, 20yrs old]. An older guy at the gym figures the higher testosterone levels because of my youth allow me to push myself as hard as I have though. I've paid for it a bit though, got some stretch marks on my arms

              I don't know if this actually will help anyone, or help explain something, but I figured I would share it. Also, just typing it out helped me sort it all out in my head
              Q9450 + TRUE, G.Skill 2x2GB DDR2, GTX 560, ASUS X48, 1TB WD Black, Windows 7 64-bit, LG M2762D-PM 27" + 17" LG 1752TX, Corsair HX620, Antec P182, Logitech G5 (Blue)
              Laptop: MSI Wind - Black

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              • #8
                It's important to remember that if you do a lot of strength training/exercises you might not see any weight gain or loss, though you will often see some gain. This is purely due to the fact that you are increasing your muscle mass while potentially burning fat.

                If you want to bulk up then strength training works well, but endurance training is always healthier for you in the long run.
                “And, remember: there's no 'I' in 'irony'” ~ Merlin Mann

                Comment


                • #9
                  Yeah this last month and a bit I have fallen into a nice groove. Working out twice a week and running twice a week. I am still pushing pretty hard for each muscle, the weights I am pushing are on a steady incline, although MY actual weight isn't really changing much, I will have to stay at this pace for a longer amount of time to see what differences it makes. Right now I am most likely getting the best possible results, burning fat while building muscle, although what ratios I have no idea. My longterm goal is about 205lbs (net 10lbs gain, but lose about 15lbs fat). Longterm being ~3 years to reach, then maintain it. Roughly 6'2 205lbs with ~10-11% body fat would be awesome.

                  Another neat experiment would be to gauge post count per month vs. fat gain per month
                  Q9450 + TRUE, G.Skill 2x2GB DDR2, GTX 560, ASUS X48, 1TB WD Black, Windows 7 64-bit, LG M2762D-PM 27" + 17" LG 1752TX, Corsair HX620, Antec P182, Logitech G5 (Blue)
                  Laptop: MSI Wind - Black

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    People get fat because their mouth-hole is bigger than their a**-hole.

                    Serioulsy though, yes there may be a lot of contributing factors to weight gain for a lot of people, but at the end of the day we all have to try and control it. Being a large bloke myself I battle this all the time. Looking at one side of my family I think I have a genetic tendency to be this size, but I don't blame that because there are periods in my life when I have managed to get ahold of myself and shift loads of weight. The rest of the time I think I just have a long list of excuses.

                    All the physical effort I have recently put in to extending my home has certainly paid dividends (I've lost over a stone, and saved about £4000 in labour costs too ) but I don't think I could ever get rich working at that - flying a keyboard is what I do best and enables me to support my family while I continue to live, and that is probably my biggest problem .
                    FT.

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Fat Tone
                      I continue to live, and that is probably my biggest problem .

                      ???????
                      Brian (the devil incarnate)

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                      • #12
                        Thanks Brian

                        I was pointing out that flying a keyboard may well enable to support my family well now, but unless I get a lot fitter, how long can it last? Maybe a lower paid job that keeps me fit would be better for the long term.

                        Then again, a lot of the manual 'trades' do seem to charge a lot per day. Perhaps I'm not as well off as I think.
                        FT.

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