As I Was Saying

New study evaluates nicotine's relationship to body weight and food intake

A study published today in Nicotine & Tobacco Research demonstrates in a carefully controlled series of studies that the self-administration of nicotine by rats suppresses body weight gain independent of food intake.
The authors of the study investigated the impact of reducing nicotine doses on body weight, and results revealed that reduction of nicotine dose from a large self-administered dose to very low doses resulted in substantial weight gain. In rats self-administering a maximally-reinforcing dose of nicotine, body weight gain during the 20-day study period was attenuated by ~40% despite no change in food intake.
As lead author Laura Rupprecht said, "The findings are important in the context of potential product standards requiring very low nicotine levels in cigarettes, as they indicate that low nicotine levels may still reduce body weight, possibly motivating continued use and maintaining exposure to harmful chemicals in cigarette smoke."
The results of the four experiments in the study also indicate that the weight-suppression properties of nicotine may act through processes that are separate from those that contribute to nicotine addiction. A better understanding of the separate neurobiological mechanisms responsible for nicotine addiction and body weight regulation may allow for new avenues in the development of obesity pharmacotherapies.

Like maybe Anti-inflammatory and Anti-Infective and Insulin Resistance Reducing Properties??????

Nicotine strengthens tight junctions in the intestine and prevents systemic bacterial infection.
It  also reduces the immune reactions that are commonly called "Inflammation"
AND it improves glucose sensitivity.

All the data shows that the reason we smoke is to benefit from those beneficial properties of nicotine rather than the "Reward System" reinforcement they call addiction.
It's self medication of various infectious and metabolic illnesses.
And the reason we can't quit is because we get sicker if we do.

The correct conclusion from all this is that VAPING IS A VERY VIABLE THERAPY POSSIBILITY as it delivers the nicotine without all the damaging tar and particulates.

And one more time:   I honestly believe Caffeine and Nicotine are the main reasons I am still alive.

Go Figure

Everything ‘The Biggest Loser’ taught you about weight loss is wrong

Yep.   Everything your doctor told you too.
I hope this means their show will go away.

I used to get up and walk out of the room when their commercials came on.  It clenched my head so bad to see those critically ill people starving and running and crying.

That protocol should have burst someone's heart.   They are very lucky they didn't kill anyone. 

Fat and Lazy

Obesity actually causes people to see the world differently, study shows

In the first experiment, customers visiting Walmart were asked to volunteer for a project—each was asked to state how far away a cone was that had been placed on a sidewalk outside—the actual distance was 25 meters away—but the researchers found that overweight people tended to think it was farther away than it really was—overshooting by up to five meters. Interestingly, those who were slimmer than average tended to underestimate, thinking it was up to 15 meters closer than it actually was.
The researchers suggest these results show that as people gain weight, they begin to perceive the world differently—as an example, they note that a person hiking with a heavy backpack tends to start seeing hills as farther away, higher and more difficult to reach than a person without a pack.
 Such experiments show, the researchers suggest, that perception changes are a fixed result of weight gain—people can't stop it from happening even if they want to do so. That means, they suggest, that weight loss programs need to take such perceptions into consideration if they are to work, such as having participants wear goggles that make things look closer, or avoiding walking where there are hills.

Okay, now this is a good experiment.   I like it.
But the conclusion made here is a little lacking.   They seem to believe that this is merely a matter of weight, that adding weight makes you judge distance differently.
That is not really what's going on.

We have much less energy production in our cells than other people.   Everything about obesity- orexin deficiency and insulin resistance  and leptin overload and mitochondrial dysfunction LOWERS your basal energy levels.
And when your brain does the math to go a distance, it calculates that task based on the amount of energy you will need to succeed.   
So that seems like a lot more work to us.
Because it frakking IS.

(And don't forget the impaired cognition and lowered motivation due to dopamine deficiency.)

It is twice as much work for us to get half as much done.
That is the opposite of lazy.

Brain Eating Zombie of the Day

Oh Yeah-  I saw Oprah in her new Weight Watchers commercial.

Seriously woman, why in the hell should we take your advice?   You have continuously failed at this for almost 30 years... sheesh.

Brain Eating Zombies of the Year

Lola Berry-   and her "Stop Being a Fat Bitch"  diet plan

Nicole Arbour-   and her Dear Fat People video.

Two skinny bitches who actually believe everyone else is just too stupid to follow directions.
And then repeat the same instructions that have failed for fifty years.

Please just get on your treadmills and STFU.

Brain Eating Zombie of the Day

Olga Khazan
The Second Assault

Victims of childhood sexual abuse are far more likely to become obese adults. New research shows that early trauma is so damaging that it can disrupt a person’s entire psychology and metabolism.

There is no reason to concoct a "lasting psychological trauma" explanation for this result.
Sexual assault consists of physical contact and injury.   Sometimes occurring for years.

None if these correlations are incompatible with a chronic infection mechanism for obesity.

More Fruits And Vegetables!!

Blood sugar levels in response to foods are highly individual 

Scientists have released new results underscoring the importance of a personalized diet, prepared based on complex factors such as your gut microbes and lifestyle. Surprisingly, the foods that raise blood sugar levels differ dramatically from person to person. 

Now will someone please tell Cigna?     I am sick and tired of being threatened with cancellation and  financially punished for refusing to eat a low fat diet.     And refusing to lie about it like everyone else...

Modern dietary protocols are complete bullshit, and forcing people to comply with them is flat-out malpractice.
  
This study is "revolutionary" only because a century of doctors did not listen to their patients.

THEY KNOW THIS

Metabolic endotoxemia initiates obesity and insulin resistance.

Diabetes and obesity are two metabolic diseases characterized by insulin resistance and a low-grade inflammation. Seeking an inflammatory factor causative of the onset of insulin resistance, obesity, and diabetes, we have identified bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) as a triggering factor...
This new finding demonstrates that metabolic endotoxemia dysregulates the inflammatory tone and triggers body weight gain and diabetes. We conclude that the LPS/CD14 system sets the tone of insulin sensitivity and the onset of diabetes and obesity. Lowering plasma LPS concentration could be a potent strategy for the control of metabolic diseases.

Why don't we all?  

Not my Imagination

Why It Was Easier to Be Skinny in the 1980s

A new study finds that people today who eat and exercise the same amount as people 20 years ago are still fatter.

Yeah, and they give a few of the standard options, but don't actually answer the question.

The answer to the question is wanton overprescription of antibiotics.
The cumulative effects are destroying our collective metabolism.  

As I was saying

Chronic rhinosinusitis linked to increased risk of other diseases

Chronic rhinosinusitis without nasal polyps is correlated with obesity.
Yep.

oh, and periodontitis  is too...

Brain Eating Zombie of the Day

Marc Kiviniemi

Thoughts drive dieting plans but feelings drive dieting behavior, study finds

"There is clearly a disconnect if we have a majority of the population that has tried to lose weight and a majority of the population that is overweight," says Marc Kiviniemi, a public health researcher at the University at Buffalo. "People are planning to diet and trying to diet, but that's not translating into a successful weight loss effort."
Many issues, from biological to environmental, determine effective weight control, but how people manage their own behavior is a big piece of that puzzle.
...
"The crux of the disconnect is the divide between thoughts and feelings. Planning is important, but feelings matter, and focusing on feelings and understanding their role can be a great benefit," says Kiviniemi, associate professor of community health and health behavior in the UB School of Public Health and Health Professions.
...
"First of all, the deprivation experience is miserable. If you didn't associate negative feelings with it to start, you will after a few days," says Kiviniemi. "The other thing that's important is the distinction between things that require effort and things that are automatic.
...
"In the dietary domain, eating more fruits and vegetables is fabulous advice. But if you have negative feelings about those food choices, they might not represent elements of a good plan," says Kiviniemi. "It's not just about eating healthy foods. It's about eating the healthy foods you like the most."

Please see how this man is completely willing to concoct bullshit  (and not even creative bullshit) to explain away his own lack of knowledge on a topic.
The crux of this disconnect actually is that 'diet experts" do not understand the slightest bit about metabolism.  Deprivation is not required to lose weight.   Obesity is caused by WHAT we eat, not HOW MUCH.
The Grand Plan is the real problem.  Eating fruit is NOT a reasonable way to lose weight.  It's NOT a "healthy choice".     
It makes people hungrier and insulin resistant at the same time.   It increases fat production.
Which actually does make us FEEL WORSE.
That is why we don't comply with their "fabulous advice". 

People are not stupid.
But Psychology is fundamentally based on the assumption that we are, and therefore never even contemplates a reality based explanation.

One more time:
If their diet doesn't explicitly account for the sugar induced effects of Orexin, they are full of shit.

SSDD

Slippery Slope: $ in, Diet Drugs Out, How Five Drugs Came to Market

Makers of diet drugs spent more than $60 million on payments to doctors, organized medicine, and lobbyists to get their drugs approved.

Good Effort

Good article on history of weight loss treatments and how most of them make it worse. 

It’s time to stop telling fat people to become thin. 

It’s hard to think of any other disease where treatment rarely works and most people are blamed for not “recovering.”.

Follow her thesis to it's conclusion:
It's this simple, fat people are sick.

Unfortunately-
Dieting does not address the underlying infection.
But not dieting doesn't either.

SSDD.

Good Data. Terrible Title.

Obese females who are most unlikely to lose weight are most in need of losing it

Despite the similarities in body weight and composition, the participants with high disinhibition scores were twice as insulin resistant as those with low disinhibition. Fasting insulin, leptin, and acyl ghrelin levels were comparable in both groups.

Too bad they didn't check orexin levels.  Go figure...

Their title is obtuse to the point of inaccuracy and really kind of demeaning, though.
 "Obese females with difficulty restricting eating behavior have altered metabolisms. "
There.  Better.

This Sounds Familiar

Leptin is produced by fat cells, so the heavier you are the more leptin you produce.    And it looks like we lucky women probably produce even less orexin the more weight we gain.
Go figure.

Leptin modulates orexin-mediated functions at the behavioral and cellular level in mice

The two orexin hypothalamic neuropeptides play an important role in energy homeostasis as well as arousal and narcolepsy. Leptin is putatively involved in the regulation of orexin neuronal activity. Using neurochemical, behavioral and histological methods the in vivo and in vitro interactions between the leptin and orexin systems were studied. Results indicate that there are higher levels of serum orexin A and increased locomotor activity during the active period of the light-dark cycle in female as compared to male mice. Both elevated orexin serum levels and locomotion were decreased following subchronic exposure to a physiological dose of leptin in female mice. In addition, stereological brain analysis revealed that leptin reduced the number of orexin immunoreactive neurons in the lateral hypothalamus of female but not male mice. Leptin also reduced the activation of these neurons in both genders as measured by c-fos activation. ... In summary, these data support the notion that the leptin and orexin systems interact centrally, and indicate how leptin could modulate the orexin-mediated regulation of vigilance states.

A couple for you

US approves new weight-loss device for obese people

Patients are surgically implanted with electrodes in the abdomen, and an externally-controlled electrical pulse generator sends signals to the abdominal vagus nerve, which helps signal to the brain if the stomach feels empty or full.

"We have come to realize just how vital the neurohormonal system is to the regulation of food intake and body weight, and therapies that alter signaling within this system are almost certainly the wave of the future."

Funny, you haven't realized how food or surgery itself affects the neuroendocrine system.
Mainline the matrix, everyone.

Does screening asymptomatic adults for disease save lives? 
Apparently not- or the headline would say so emphatically, amirite?
Screening tests make money whether people are sick or not, that's the reason this practice is widely promoted in the medical industry.  Period.

Frozen Elsa Brain Surgery Game
Because it's awesome.   Way better than the 900 page book on endotoxin.

Drive-By

Things that caught my eye.

Anxiety can damage brain: Accelerate conversion to Alzheimer's for those with mild cognitive impairment

Led by researchers at Baycrest Health Sciences' Rotman Research Institute, the study has shown clearly for the first time that anxiety symptoms in individuals diagnosed with MCI increase the risk of a speedier decline in cognitive functions - independent of depression. For MCI patients with mild, moderate or severe anxiety, Alzheimer's risk increased by 33%, 78% and 135% respectively.

 Yes, well, infectious activity raises stress response, so maybe those people are sicker...
what a concept.

Disgust leads people to lie and cheat, cleanliness promotes ethical behavior, study shows
And guess what makes you feel disgust?   Gut dysfunction.  Nausea is a vagus thing.
Instead of having people think of clean things, why don't you try addressing the source of the problem?

Contact lenses tied to thousands of eye infections

Generic Drug Prices Are Skyrocketing, Senate Will Investigate

“U.S. antitrust laws protect consumers only from anticompetitive strategies such as price fixing among competitors. Manufacturers of generic drugs that legally obtain a market monopoly are free to unilaterally raise the prices of their products. The Federal Trade Commission will not intervene without evidence of a conspiracy among competitors or other anticompetitive actions that sustain the increased price.”

Yeah, my generic Valacyclovir costs exactly as much as the Valtrex did...

Why Are So Few Blockbuster Drugs Invented Today?

But this golden road to pharmaceutical riches, known as target-based drug discovery, has often proved to be more of a garden path. The first disappointment has been that most diseases affecting large numbers of people are not caused by a handful of mutations that can be unearthed as easily as digging potatoes in a field. Geneticists have called this the problem of “missing heritability,” because despite what they promised in the 1990s, they have found no single genetic variants that are necessary and sufficient to cause most forms of widespread diseases like diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s or cancer.

That's because those diseases aren't genetic, they're infectious.
They are looking for things that don't exist.
And ignoring things that do.

Keep Your Memory Intact, Limit Intake of Trans Fat

Medical researchers worked with 690 male subjects and 324 post-menopausal women, asking them to attempt to memorize a list of 104 words, and recite them back from memory. The volunteers were also quizzed about their diet and general health. Those who consumed the highest levels of trans fats remembered an average of 11 fewer words than the remainder of the study population.

This from the American Heart Association, who still cannot say the word Sugar.
But just to be clear- they are the people who created this trans-fat crisis in the first place.
The Crisco Generation.

Taking antibiotics during pregnancy increases risk for child becoming obese

A study just released by Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health found that children who were exposed to antibiotics in the second or third trimester of pregnancy had a higher risk of childhood obesity at age 7. The research also showed that for mothers who delivered their babies by a Caesarean section, whether elective or non-elective, there was a higher risk for obesity in their offspring.

Yeah, uh huh.
Body weight heavily influenced by microbes in the gut

Brain Eating Zombie of the Day

See Jason Blame His Patients.

Overweight kids misinterpret asthma symptoms, potentially overuse medication

New research shows obese children with asthma may mistake symptoms of breathlessness for loss of asthma control leading to high and unnecessary use of rescue medications. The study was published online in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (JACI), the official scientific journal of the American Association of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

"Obese children with asthma need to develop a greater understanding of the distinct feeling of breathlessness in order to avoid not just unnecessary medication use, but also the anxiety, reduced quality of life and health care utilization that come along with this misunderstood symptom," said Jason Lang.

Ummmm no.
DOCTORS need to understand that obesity reduces brown fat and mitochondrial function and causes symtoms of fatigue in their patients.

Oh, and that a frakking lung infection causes both asthma and obesity.    That would be kinda helpful...   

Pig Lipstick

FDA approves diet pill made from old medicines

Contrave, for better or worse, is a combination of two drugs that have been around for a long time. One is bupropion, an antidepressant sold as Wellbutrin, that’s also been used to help people stop smoking. The other is naltrexone, a medicine that’s prescribed to help people stay off drugs and alcohol.

Just another excuse for a patent.
Just another way to take your money until you qualify for lapband surgery.

Their Vision of Your Future

Plug into the Matrix.

Scientists pioneer two techniques to combat obesity

Prof Steve Bloom and team working on 'intelligent microchip' and treatment combining two hormones to reduce appetite.

He wants to implant a chip in your vagus nerve.   That's what controls your heart.  Can't imagine what might go wrong.
He's got another miracle weight loss drug too.

Or you could eat more protein and less carbs.