Gene Discovery

"Obesity Gene Discovery will 'revolutionize treatment'"
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/...p?story=459900

excerpt:
"The gene identified by Professor Froguel's team lies on
chromosome 10 * one of 23 pairs that constitute the human
genome. Called GAD2, it works by speeding up the production
of a chemical transmitter in the brain, called GABA, which
is involved in appetite stimulation."

Well, I find all this stuff very interesting, but I quake
when I read statements like:

taken from same article:
"Scientists believe that an accurate test to identify a genetic
tendency to become obese in adulthood will enable doctors to
target those children most at risk so that their diet and
lifestyle can be changed."

This assumes that "they" (whoever they are) know which diet
will help.

I have often thought that one of the reasons that modern times
has seen an increase in obesity is that many more people are
living to adulthood than in previous generations. As a child,
I had diseases that a mere ten years earlier would have killed
me. This is not a call for a reduction in heroic efforts to
save children (I like being alive, thank you very much), but
if we do rescue children with marginal natural ability to
survive, there are likely to be other issues that will require
attention later.

Sorry. Bit of late night maundering.
April.
Put out the cat.
--
"Things that try to look like things often do look more
like things than things. Well known fact."
Esmerelda Weatherwax (Pratchett 1988)

April Goodwin-Smith wrote in message ...

I have often thought that one of the reasons that modern times
has seen an increase in obesity is that many more people are
living to adulthood than in previous generations.

How does this explain the out-of-control juvenile obesity epidemic
we're experiencing in this country now? It's not about fighting
bacterial diseases that would have killed us a generation, or two,
ago. It's about poor eating habits and a sedentary lifestyle.

Lee

On Tue, 4 Nov 2003 08:37:21 -0600, Pat wrote:



I have often thought that one of the reasons that modern times
has seen an increase in obesity is that many more people are
living to adulthood than in previous generations.


How does this explain the out-of-control juvenile obesity epidemic
we're experiencing in this country now? It's not about fighting
bacterial diseases that would have killed us a generation, or two,
ago. It's about poor eating habits and a sedentary lifestyle.

Lee

According to recent studies, moving to the suburbs has had an effect on
obesity. Also, I believe parents' fears play a part...the idea that the
world is too dangerous for children to go outside and play. It's not.
Witness the hysteria over the so-called "dangers" of Halloween. Every
year
we are bombarded with how dangerous the holiday is, and every year
nothing
happens. In the meantime, fewer and fewer children are allowed to trick
or
treat and enjoy themselves. And don't forget video games taking up lots
of
children's times. No doubt there is more that I haven't mentioned.

Pat in TX



I'd have to say that electronics is partly to blame. Now, we have
computers, video games, TV, all of which waste time while providing little
exercise. Having said that, I became a fat child by reading too much. I
think parents need to strike a balance -- some games/tv/computers/reading
is allowed, but there's also got to be some activities.

--
Bob M in CT
Remove 'x.' to reply

April Goodwin-Smith at talked on ....

target those children most at risk so that their diet and
lifestyle can be changed."

Here comes big brother :S

--
Kitty =^..^=
1 oz nuts MAX .. NO MORE KITTY!!!!!
168/160/130 * November Goal 155
September 17 2003

Also, I believe parents' fears play a part...the idea that the
world is too dangerous for children to go outside and play. It's not.
Witness the hysteria over the so-called "dangers" of Halloween. Every
year
we are bombarded with how dangerous the holiday is, and every year
nothing happens.

Generalization alert! It depends on where you live. We live in a pleasant,
upscale/educated residential part of a city, near a busy main street bu also
about 5 blocks from a low-income area known for drug problems. I would NEVER
let my kids out alone on Halloween or any other night!

In fact, sad to say, last Friday night a 12 year old girl was viciously
mugged by two teen boys on the sidewalk in front of our next-door neighbor's
house. She was taking her little brother around trick-or-treating. The two
punks hid behind a car, jumped out, and began beating her in the face without
saying a word, and tugging on her candy bag.

They ran off -- laughing! -- when our neighbor dashed outside. The girl's
face was a mess, and blood lay in pools on our neighbor's front steps. Four
cop cars and an ambulance responded and took the poor kid to the hospital.

Nice Halloween memories for her! :-(

So, parents are not always overreacting to imagined danger. I regret that my
kids don't roam freely outdoors as much as I did 40 years ago in the serene
Connecticut suburbs, but that's not my world these days. (My kids do sports
instead!)

- Anne

Lee wrote:
April Goodwin-Smith wrote:
I have often thought that one of the reasons that modern
times has seen an increase in obesity is that many more
people are living to adulthood than in previous generations.

How does this explain the out-of-control juvenile obesity
epidemic we're experiencing in this country now?


To be very simplistic about this: in previous generations they
would have been too dead to get obese.


It's not about fighting bacterial diseases that would have
killed us a generation, or two, ago. It's about poor eating
habits and a sedentary lifestyle.


Please also note that I said that it might have been *one of*
the reasons.

However, these "common sense" assertions of a more sedentary
lifestyle do not match evidence I see around me. There are
more soccer teams, and baseball teams, and curling teams, and
hockey teams for kids than ever before. There are more dance
groups, and skateboard parks, and mountain bike trails, and
cross country ski trails, and on and bloody on. Every parent
I know (I'm not one, myself) is on the run after school,
shuttling their kids from one activity to another. And most
of them just kiss their weekends goodbye until the last of
the kids is off to university/into the work force.

An easy answer is that it is the kids' fault for being lazy
little blighters, or that it is the parents' fault for coddling
their kids (or abandoning them, depending on the script).

But it is a complicated problem, where part of the problem
is the quality of the food this generation eats, part of the
problem is the nature of this cohort (tendency towards disease,
etc.), and part of the problem is cultural/lifestyle.

Of course, many people find it fun to bully other people, and
I can certainly see that torturing kids with an *improved*
lifestyle would have some satisfaction because the researcher
wins either way: the draconian measures work & it's all thanks
to the researcher's common sense plan; or the program doesn't
work & it's all because the kids are lazy fatties who are
cheating.

The advantage of this gene discovery is that in the game of
assigning blame, now the problem is that the fatty's ancestors
weren't evolved enough. Some people are just so inherently
*better* than other people, you know?

Argh.

April.
Put out the cat.
--
"Things that try to look like things often do look more
like things than things. Well known fact."
Esmerelda Weatherwax (Pratchett 1988)

Qilt Kitty wrote:
April Goodwin-Smith:

target those children most at risk so that their diet and
lifestyle can be changed."

Here comes big brother :S


Yes. And, as we all know, medical authority has an amazing
track record in the field of being absolutely positive about
things that turned out to be dead wrong.

I want to see their proposed "improved diet & lifestyle" before
they get anywhere near children. Fruit juice & white bread -
hold the mayo, no doubt.

Argh.

April.
Put out the cat.
--
"Things that try to look like things often do look more
like things than things. Well known fact."
Esmerelda Weatherwax (Pratchett 1988)