The Skinny Kid

Born lucky: Scientists discover ‘skinny’ gene - Fitness - MSNBC.com

Scientists now say they have discovered the “skinny” gene. And they’ve found this lucky batch of DNA in a variety of animals, according to a report published Tuesday in the journal Cell Metabolism.”This gene is in every organism from worms to humans,” says the study’s senior author, Dr. Jonathan Graff, an associate professor of developmental biology and internal medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. “We all have it. It’s very striking.”

Graff and his colleagues had been hunting for a gene that might naturally keep people thin. Eventually, they turned up a promising candidate in a gene that controls fat formation.

How do I order one?

When a recent study showed no special weight loss benefit from low-glycemic diets relative to other diets, I said:

I’ve always been a believer in the “weight gain/loss = calories in - calories out” theory. Still, the concept of glycemic load has some intuitive appeal. For example, given the link between obesity and diabetes, and the need to control sugar absorption in the latter case, perhaps overweight people should pay attention to glycemic index even if they aren’t trying to lose weight.

As it turns out, not only was I on the right track with that question but other researchers were in the process of answering it.

Insidermedicine Video News : Low Glycemic Diet Lowers Cholesterol, Good for Weight Loss

Dieters who select a low-glycemic load diet my have more success at losing weight, than those following a low carbohydrate or low fat diet, say researchers in a report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.Three popular diets have recently received much attention – low fat, low carbohydrate, and low glycemic load. However, there is still no consensus on which diet yields the best results. Glycemic load refers to the increase in blood sugar that occurs following the consumption of a carbohydrate. Foods low on the glycemic index, such as certain fruits, nuts, and vegetables, release glucose gradually into the blood stream. Foods high on the glycemic index, such as breads and pasta, provoke an immediate response in the blood sugar levels and tend to result in increased hunger and overeating.

For people with tendency for high insulin levels 30 minutes after eating, the low-glycemic diet produced a five times greater decrease in weight than the low-fat diet at 18 months. The low-glycemic diet was also more effective in reducing body fat and improving cholesterol and trigyceride levels, while the low-fat diet improved low-density lipoprotein, or “bad” cholesterol.

Differences in insulin secretion among individuals may help predict the success of weight loss programs, and reducing glycemic load may be especially important for those who secrete insulin at a higher level.

Makes sense to me.

I’ve never been a fan of the BMI, cause as a former weightlifter I knew about these drawbacks years ago:

ScienceDaily: BMI Not Accurate Indicator Of Body Fat, New Research Suggests

Body mass index, or BMI, long considered the standard for measuring the amount of fat in a person’s body, may not be as accurate as originally thought, according to new research.
A research team from Michigan State University and Saginaw Valley State University measured the BMI of more than 400 college students – some of whom were athletes and some not – and found that in most cases the student’s BMI did not accurately reflect his or her percentage of body fat.

The problem, especially among younger people and athletes, is that BMI does not distinguish between body fat and muscle mass.

And given that you can get a decent body fat scale for about $100, why mess with BMI at all? The only people I know of who think it is worthwhile are vegetarian scaremongers who want to distort the obesity statistics so they can force vegetarianism on everyone else.

For those who thought eating more of anything would somehow lead to lower weight, you will be disappointed with this headline.

Eating extra soy may not promote weight loss | Science & Health | Reuters

Adding soy-protein-rich foods while cutting calories doesn’t accelerate weight loss, a new study shows.Overweight women who ate 500 fewer calories a day than normal while consuming an extra 18 grams of soy-rich food daily for 12 weeks didn’t lose any more weight than their peers who didn’t add the extra soy, Dr. Marie-Pierre St. Onge of St. Luke’s/Roosevelt Hospital in New York City and colleagues found.

You see, it is calories in versus calories out, more than the composition of those calories, that results in weight gain or loss. Still, the higher-soy diet (with equal calories) did lower insulin and bad cholesterol. And those are good things to lower.

For those who thought eating more of anything would somehow lead to lower weight, you will be disappointed with this headline.

Eating extra soy may not promote weight loss | Science & Health | Reuters

Adding soy-protein-rich foods while cutting calories doesn’t accelerate weight loss, a new study shows.Overweight women who ate 500 fewer calories a day than normal while consuming an extra 18 grams of soy-rich food daily for 12 weeks didn’t lose any more weight than their peers who didn’t add the extra soy, Dr. Marie-Pierre St. Onge of St. Luke’s/Roosevelt Hospital in New York City and colleagues found.

You see, it is calories in versus calories out, more than the composition of those calories, that results in weight gain or loss. Still, the higher-soy diet (with equal calories) did lower insulin and bad cholesterol. And those are good things to lower.

Heavy men may be less apt to commit suicide | Health | Reuters

As body weight increases in men, the risk of death from suicide falls markedly, new research hints.Given that previous studies have linked obesity with depression, obesity might be expected to raise the risk of suicide, but the few studies that have addressed this topic have largely found just the opposite, Dr. Kenneth J. Mukamal, from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, and colleagues note.

Alternative Hypotheses: 

1. The jolly fat man is not a myth
2. The very obese want to commit suicide but their weight impedes their ability to aim at themselves
3. Too lazy to actually do it

Heavy men may be less apt to commit suicide | Health | Reuters

As body weight increases in men, the risk of death from suicide falls markedly, new research hints.Given that previous studies have linked obesity with depression, obesity might be expected to raise the risk of suicide, but the few studies that have addressed this topic have largely found just the opposite, Dr. Kenneth J. Mukamal, from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, and colleagues note.

Alternative Hypotheses: 

1. The jolly fat man is not a myth
2. The very obese want to commit suicide but their weight impedes their ability to aim at themselves
3. Too lazy to actually do it

Heavy men may be less apt to commit suicide | Health | Reuters

As body weight increases in men, the risk of death from suicide falls markedly, new research hints.Given that previous studies have linked obesity with depression, obesity might be expected to raise the risk of suicide, but the few studies that have addressed this topic have largely found just the opposite, Dr. Kenneth J. Mukamal, from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, and colleagues note.

Alternative Hypotheses: 

1. The jolly fat man is not a myth
2. The very obese want to commit suicide but their weight impedes their ability to aim at themselves
3. Too lazy to actually do it

Apparently it makes you fat and sterile.

Rochester Study Connects Common Chemicals To Rising Obesity Rates

Exposure to phthalates, a common chemical found in everything from plastics to soaps, already has been connected to reproductive problems and now, for the first time, is linked to abdominal obesity and insulin resistance in adult males, according to a study by the University of Rochester Medical Center.

On the other hand, sterility is probably not an issue for those who never bathe.

Red Pepper: Hot Stuff For Fighting Fat?

Food scientists in Taiwan are reporting new evidence from laboratory experiments that capsaicin - the natural compound that gives red pepper that spicy hot kick - can reduce the growth of fat cells. The study is scheduled for the March 21 issue of the ACS’ Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a bi-weekly publication.

We dig the spicy food anyway. This is just one more reason.