weight loss
dr. dolittle | August 11, 2016 Sketch of a rainbow trout from Wikimedia Commons
Ceramides are a type of sphingolipid composed of both fatty acids and sphingosine that are important in maintaining the structure of cell membranes and cell signaling pathways. Given their structure, it is perhaps not surprising that levels of ceramide are increased in the brains of mammals after eating a diet high in fats as well as in individuals who are obese. In mammals, ceramides are also known to help regulate food intake.
Since rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) do not rely on glucose as heavily as proteins or fats for metabolism,…
lborkowski | July 11, 2016When a group of researchers supported by the HHS Office on Women's Health set about designing a weight-loss intervention for lesbian and bisexual (LB) women, they ran into a challenge: Many lesbian and bisexual women are averse to the idea of weight loss. Although LB women are more likely to be overweight or obese than their heterosexual counterparts, they are less likely to consider themselves overweight. The researchers conducted focus groups with LB women (some involving only overweight participants), and learned that participants often didn't prioritize weight loss, but did want to be…
dr. dolittle | October 13, 2015This is a great month for Physiology! Several of the local chapters of the American Physiological Society (APS) are having their annual meetings.
The Nebraska Physiological Society met this past weekend at the University of South Dakota, Sanford School of Medicine. Here are the highlights from their meeting:
Dr. Bill Yates, Professor from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine gave the APS sponsored keynote address on “Multisensory Control of Blood Pressure.” His research is focused on understanding the link between our vestibular system and blood pressure. The vestibular system in…
oracknows | January 28, 2015
If there's one aspect of 2014 that I enjoyed, it's that it was a very bad year for our old friend, America's quack, a.k.a. Dr. Mehmet Oz. It seemed that, finally, some of the chickens were coming home to roost and Dr. Oz was starting to suffer a bit for his promotion of quackery and pseudoscience on his daytime medical talkshow. The most delicious height of schadenfreude (for skeptics, at least) came mid-year, when Dr. Oz was asked to testify in front of Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill's Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation’s Subcommittee on Consumer Protection,…
oracknows | June 17, 2014I almost feel sorry for "America's Quack," Dr. Mehmet Oz. Well, not really.
Remember last week when I took note of an upcoming Senate hearing, specifically a hearing on weight loss scams in front of the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance, which is chaired by Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO). At the time, I wasn't pleased, because I assumed that the reason Dr. Oz had been invited to testify was in order to bring some star power to the proceedings and get some television coverage, given that the rest of the witnesses consisted of representatives from government…
dr. dolittle | September 9, 2013You have to see this to believe it. This video from CNN shows how a 31-pound cat is losing weight by walking on an underwater treadmill.
I wonder how they were able to get this cat to even stay in the water. I think my cat would lose more weight in the process of fighting to stay out of the water. I would also have to buy A LOT of bandaids before attempting it. In fact, I am pretty sure the cat in this YouTube video "saying no" to a bath is a close relative of my cat:
dr. dolittle | May 29, 2013 Caribbean sun anemone. Image from Wikimedia, Omar Spence Photography.
Dr. George Chandy at the University of California, Irvine discovered a toxin in Caribbean sun anemones (see photo) in 1984 and has spent his career studying the toxin. Prior work by his team suggested that a synthetic version of a peptide (ShK-186) from the toxin may help treat autoimmune disease. It works by blocking a specific potassium channel (Kv1.3) important in immune system reactivity. Since potassium channels are also important in the regulation of metabolism and body weight, his team wanted to explore whether…
kcollins | August 5, 2011CALORIE COUNTS AREN'T TELLING THE FULL STORY
By Joe Schwarcz, Freelance
July 30, 2011
There are undoubtedly all sorts of terrorists out there hatching intricate plans aimed at destroying the western world. They needn't bother. All they have to do is wait and westerners will eat themselves into oblivion. The average western diet, with the U.S. leading the pack, is atrocious. People are getting fatter and fatter. Obesity-related ailments such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes take a giant toll both in terms of tax dollars and human misery. Something needs to be done.
The standard answer is…
gregladen | February 22, 2011The Biggest Loser is a TV reality show on which people who really do weigh a lot more than is healthy compete to lose weight. They do this on teams. There are various challenges. There are charismatic trainers. And, of course, because it is a TV reality show, individuals can get tossed off the show either because of poor performance (not losing enough weight) or by getting voted off.
An interesting and entirely inappropriate trend has developed on this show.
Individuals decide that they should leave the show while others must stay. They accomplish this by gaining, rather than losing,…
gregladen | August 27, 2010A recent paper provides the groundwork to establish a way for exercise to diminish appetite. Or, more likely, for sedentary behavior to increase appetite.
It is well known that exercise burns calories. Personally, I think that's overrated: Strength building raises your metabolic demand, and THAT burns calories. But that is not the main topic at hand. New research indicates that exercise also increases the sensitivity of neurons that are related to the control of the feeling of satiation. Therefore, you feel full rather than hungry sooner and/or more often.
In rodents. So far.
The…
grrlscientist | May 30, 2010tags: The Clearwater Beach Diet, Scientology, cults, diet, weight loss, satire, humor, funny, offbeat, streaming video
This satirical video offends two groups of people at the same time: Scientologists and people who are on "the diet fad of the week."
Unfortunately, Scientology does not help people: Kirstie Alley is still fat, and Lisa McPherson is still dead.
tsaunders | March 8, 2010
Image by atomicjeep
I came across a very interesting article in the Ottawa Citizen this weekend, unpleasantly titled "For Canada's obese, exercise alone isn't going to cut it". The crux of the article is this - exercise will not help you lose weight. Every few months it seems that this issue pops up, including a cover article in TIME magazine last year, which Peter has previously dissected. This is a complicated issue, and given the sensational title, I wasn't expecting much from the Citizen article. But the article is actually very well written, and includes interviews with a number…
tsaunders | March 7, 2010
Photo by Todd Huffman.
One of the great things about this site is that people often bring products or research to our attention that we otherwise might have missed. This occurred yesterday in the comments section of Peter's recent post on Acai berry scams, when one of our readers brought up the use of Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG) in the treatment of obesity. The website that we were provided smacks of weight loss gimmickry - notably the promise of an obesity "cure" and "near 100% success rate", but we thought it best to review the evidence before making a judgement one way or…
sheril | February 26, 2009Well, it was a long time coming. Between the myriad of diet plans on television, magazines, online, and everywhere, someone was bound to finally come up with conclusive evidence on what works and how to make sense of all the (excuse the term) dietary diarrhea. No doubt, you've also noticed that low-fat, high fiber, extra protein, pills, germs, and steel floods every sensory organ we have on a hourly basis.
Personally, I've never been all that interested in skinny, but healthy suits me just fine. I'm not one for regiments or counting calories, but do give thought to what I consume and prefer…