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Scientists Discover New Obesity Gene – Obesity Research Update #4

July 18th, 2008

Obesity researcher, Professor Philippe Froguel and his team have discovered a new obesity gene.

Apparently, this gene ( PCSK1 ) plays a part in the maturation of various hormones that control food intake.

This means that if you have a mutated version of this gene, you are predisposed to severe obesity. Severe obesity, not just regular, run of the mill obesity.

The Details

PCSK1 produces an enzyme called proconvertase 1.

Proconvertase 1 activates several hormones and circulating peptides that are involved in controlling appetite – insulin, glucagon, GLP1, and pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC).

The conclusion of this study is that even apparently minor abnormalities in a proconvertase 1 are enough to significantly increase the risk of severe obesity and to lead to excessive weight in the general population.

So what does this mean?

This means that if your PCSK1 gene is mutated, you are probably obese. Just like if your were born with a congenital leptin deficiency.

So, what percentage of the population is walking around with a deformed PCSK1 gene.

We don’t know, and neither do the scientists.

What causes this gene mutation?

We don’t know, and neither do the scientists.

Can this mutation be corrected?

We don’t know, and neither do the scientists.

Should obese individuals rely on science to provide them with a treatment for a potentially rare genetic mutation that most likely did not cause their obesity in the first place?

NO.

oops, sorry, my objectiveness slipped a little..

We don’t know, and neither do the scientists.

The study is published in the journal, Nature Genetics.

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Posted in Diet/Nutrition, Exercise, Research, health

Tags: diet Exercise fitness genetics health life obesity Research science weight loss

Scientists discover the Couch Potato gene

July 17th, 2008

A group of researchers, from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, have mapped out 23 specific chromosomal locations that account for 84% of the behavioral differences between low activity (see lazy) mice and high activity mice (see type A super achievers) – sorry, no human tests yet.

Link to Study # 1

Link to Study # 2

Initially, the researchers thought that the difference between the lazy and active mice was due to a genetic effect on the way energy is used by the muscle tissue.

This was proven false. Okay then, moving on.

This led the researchers to look at how genetic differences in brain chemistry might be causing this propensity towards laziness.

Success!

The Studies

The first thing the researchers did was to interbreed the active mice with the lazy mice. Then, they tested the offspring of this ‘unholy union’ for activity using three measurements – speed, endurance and distance.

Genetic tests were performed on the mice and strong correlations were found between the differences in the their genomes and their test results. In fact, the scientists identified 23 genes that were shown to affect activity levels.

While, the scientists have no idea what these genes are doing to cause these differences in activity level, they know that there is a link.

So what does this mean?

This may mean that while some people may be genetically predisposed to enjoy exercise, others may be genetically predisposed to glue their butts to the couch and watch re-runs of Murder She Wrote until they fall asleep in a Doritos induced slumber.

How depressing.

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Posted in Diet/Nutrition, Exercise, Research, health

Tags: Exercise fitness genetics health life obesity Research science sloth

Epigenetics & Obesity – Obesity Research Update #3

July 16th, 2008

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine have made a groundbreaking discovery – Overweight moms give birth to children who become even more overweight and who in turn have children who become even more overweight and so on and so on.

Damn!

Maybe I have been wrong all these years. Maybe our body composition is determined by our DNA.

Nope.

According to this study, researchers found that by supplementing an obese mother’s diet with folic acid and other methyl supplements, they were able to reverse this form of inherited obesity.”

The Hypothesis

Lead researcher, Dr. Robert Waterland, designed this study to test the hypothesis that maternal obesity before and during pregnancy affects the body weight regulatory mechanisms in her offspring.

In layman’s terms, does a fat mom produce fat babies?

In regards to reversing this cycle of inherited obesity, Dr. Waterland believes that “DNA methylation may play an important role in the development of the hypothalamus (the region of the brain that regulates appetite).”

The Method

Waterland et al tested this hypothesis on three generations of genetically identical mice, all with the same genetic tendency to overeat. (agouti viable yellow [A^vy] mice)

The mice were divided into two groups:

Standard diet group
Standard diet supplemented with folic acid, vitamin B12, betaine and choline. This special ‘methyl supplemented’ diet enhances DNA methylation.

Sorry about that. You don’t have to worry about nerd terms like DNA methylation, there won’t be a test at the end of this post.

What they were attempting to do was to reduce or silence the effect that the inherited gene had over the development of the baby mice.

Can mice that are genetically predisposed to obesity be spared from a life of stretchy pants and motorized scooters?

The Results

The mice on the standard diet piled on the body-fat, as expected, and subsequent generations were progressively more obese.

Those on the methyl supplemented diet did not gain weight through successive generations.

So what does this mean to me?

Well, according to Dr. Waterland, “the effect of methyl supplementation on body weight was independent of epigenetic changes at the A^vy locus, indicating this model may have direct relevance to human transgenerational obesity”.

OR

This treatment could be safely adapted for human trials and could potentially provide a cure for inherited pediatric obesity.

Please note that this is one study, performed on mice. This doesn’t mean that moms-to-be should start mega-dosing supplements in order to produce babies with six packs.

Let the geeks do their work.

First come the scientific human trials. Then come the drug company trials. Then come the drugs and/or supplements.

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Posted in Diet/Nutrition, Exercise, Research, health

Tags: diet dna epigenetics fitness genetics health life obesity science weight loss

The Big Breakfast Diet

June 24th, 2008

A new study, out of Virginia Commonwealth University, suggests that your grandma was right!

Eat a big breakfast and you won’t be hungry for the rest of the day.

Yay Grandma!!!

The Study

The study compared a “Big Breakfast” or BB diet plan with a low carb / Atkins style diet plan.

The BB group ate 610 of their daily 1240 calories at breakfast. The macronutrient breakdown of their Big Breakfast was as follows:

58 grams of carbohydrates (38% of calories)
47 grams of protein (31% of calories)
22 grams of fat (32% of calories)

Breakfast could be eaten in two or three stages, but had to be completed by 9 a.m.

The macronutrient breakdown for the entire day was as follows:

97 grams of carbohydrates (33% of calories)
93 grams of protein (32% of calories)
46 grams of fat (35% of calories)

So it seems that while breakfast was a little higher in carbs and lower in fat, the rest of the day was the inverse; higher in fat and lower in carbs.

The low carb / Atkins group ate 290 of their daily 1085 calories at breakfast. The macronutrient breakdown of the low carb breakfast was as follows:

7 grams of carbohydrates (10% of calories)
12 grams of protein (16% of calories)
24 grams of fat (my calculation) – (74% of calories)

The macronutrient breakdown for the entire day was as follows:

17 grams of carbohydrates (7% of calories)
51 grams of protein (21% of calories)
78 grams of fat (72% of calories)

Both groups stayed on their respective weight loss diets for four months. At the end of this period, both groups shifted to a maintenance diet for an additional four months.

The Results

After four months:

The low carb dieters lost approximately 28 pounds
The BB dieters lost about 23 pounds

Both groups did well, losing between 6 and 7 pounds per month.

After eight months:

The low carb dieters had regained an average of 18 pounds. This produced a net loss of 10 pounds over 8 months – an average of 1 1/4 pounds per month.
The BB dieters lost another 16 1/2 pounds during the maintenance phase. This produced a net loss of 39 1/2 pounds – an average of 5 pounds per month.

As an added bonus, at the end of the study, the BB dieters reported that they experienced less hunger and fewer cravings for carbohydrates than the low carb group.

Conclusions

Please keep in mind that this is only one small study of 94 individuals. Further study is required to test the conclusions of this study. But don’t worry. Considering the huuuuuge market for diets and weight loss plans around the globe, I don’t think researchers will have to look too far or too hard for sources of research funding.
Dietitians and nutritionists are already criticizing this study as being too low in calories and carbohydrates.
Dietitians and nutritionists who make this complaint are A: Missing the point of the study and B: Protecting their own butts.
A – The point of the study was to test the Big Breakfast hypothesis. At this point, we don’t even know the average starting weight of the study participants, so how can the ‘experts’ claim that the calories are too low.
B – For the most part, dietitians and nutritionists like to push the food pyramid du jour. Lots of grains, lots of dairy, lots of political contributions from the grain and dairy lobbyists…oops.

My Recommendation

Become your own guinea pig.

One day this week, while eating normally, record everything you eat in a notebook. Record how the meals impacted your hunger and cravings. Record when you ate and what you ate.

The next day, eat the exact same foods. But, eat half of the previous day’s food at a single, extended breakfast. Keep the same record book of mealtimes, what you ate and how you felt.

I tried it yesterday, and I was extremely full after breakfast and never really got hungry the rest of the day.

Give it a try.

What do you have to lose…except a few pounds of chub-chub.

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Posted in Diet/Nutrition, Research, health

Tags: breakfast diet Exercise fitness health nutrition obesity science weight loss

Eugenics Alert! Physical Fitness Leads to Crime…

June 17th, 2008

Researchers with the University of Arkansas have found a link between your physical fitness and the likelihood that you will commit a crime and go to jail.

More specifically, when the researchers looked at the physical characteristics of about 5,000 Arkansas inmates, they found that most were athletically fit when they entered prison.

The researchers classified most of these inmates as mesomorphs.

As reported by the New York Times, this research study, which appears in the Social Science Journal, found that mesomorphs make up an unusually large percentage of the prison population, from 62 percent to 73 percent.

While the researchers claim that their findings suggest a link between a prisoner’s somatotype and their criminal patterns, they admit that body type or fitness level is a meager predictor of criminality.