Obesity may not be directly due to eating

Obesity may not be directly due to eating
June 3, 2008
Courtesy Cell Press
and World Science staff
Wheth*er you're fat or thin is only in*di*rectly de*ter*mined by your
eat*ing habits, sug*gest re*search*ers who re*port new find*ings with a
study us*ing worms.

They found that both eat*ing and fat in worms de*pends on lev*els of a
sub*stance called ser*o*to*nin in the nerv*ous sys*tem. Yet it seems the
"con*trol of fat is dis*tinct from" that of eat*ing, said Ka*veh Ash*rafi of
the Uni*ver*s*ity of Cal*i*for*nia, San Fran*cis*co, one of the
sci*en*tists.

The re*search*ers found ev*i*dence that ser*o*to*nin, which acts as a
mes*sen*ger be*tween nerve cells, works through in*de*pend*ent chan*nels to
con*trol wheth*er you eat ver*sus what to do with those calo*ries once you've
eat*en them.

"These out*puts are re*lat*ed, but they are not con*se*quenc*es of each
oth*er. It's not that feed*ing is*n't im*por*tant," Ash*rafi added. The
find*ings ap*pear in the June is*sue of the re*search jour*nal Cell
Me*tab*o*lism.

Ash*rafi sus*pects at a fun*da*men*tal lev*el the worm find*ings can be
ex*trap*o*lated to hu*mans, giv*en ser*o*to*nin's an*cient ev*o*lu*tion*ary
ori*gins.

This in turn may mean one could de*vel*op ther*a*pies "to ma*ni*pu*late fat
me*tab*o*lism in*de*pend*ently of what you eat," he said. "Now, the fo*cus
is pri*marily on feed*ing be*hav*ior. As im*por*tant as that is, it's only
part of the sto*ry. it may be one rea*son di*ets fail."

While fat regula*t*ion is at one lev*el a rel*a*tively sim*ple bal*ance
be*tween en*er*gy in*take and out*put, the phys*i*ol*o*gy is none*the*less
quite com*plex, Ash*rafi said. The re*search*ers at*tempted to dis*sect that
com*plex*ity us*ing the worm C. el*e*gans, which is much sim*pler to work
with than mam*mals.

They found in the worms that ser*o*to*nin's con*trol of eat*ing in*volves
mo*le*cules not needed for fat con*trol. Its ef*fects on fat de*pend on a
sep*a*rate neu*ral chan*nel and mo*le*cules that spark sig*nals lead*ing to
the break*down of fat, Ash*rafi said; the byprod*ucts of that pro*cess then
come "full cir*cle" and gov*ern feed*ing be*hav*ior.

The find*ings show that, as in mam*mals, C. el*e*gans eat*ing de*pends on
both in*ter*nal and en*vi*ron*men*tal cues, the re*search*ers wrote:
"feed*ing be*hav*ior and fat me*tab*o*lism are co*or*di*nated but
in*de*pend*ent re*sponses of the nerv*ous sys*tem to the per*cep*tion of
nu*tri*ent avail*abil*ity."

This is why Good calories, bad calories by Taubes should be required
reading in any class about dieting or nutrition.

On Thu, 05 Jun 2008 16:08:45 -0400, FOB
wrote:

Obesity may not be directly due to eating
June 3, 2008
Courtesy Cell Press
and World Science staff
Wheth*er you're fat or thin is only in*di*rectly de*ter*mined by your
eat*ing habits, sug*gest re*search*ers who re*port new find*ings with a
study us*ing worms.

They found that both eat*ing and fat in worms de*pends on lev*els of a
sub*stance called ser*o*to*nin in the nerv*ous sys*tem. Yet it seems the
"con*trol of fat is dis*tinct from" that of eat*ing, said Ka*veh Ash*
rafi of
the Uni*ver*s*ity of Cal*i*for*nia, San Fran*cis*co, one of the
sci*en*tists.

The re*search*ers found ev*i*dence that ser*o*to*nin, which acts as a
mes*sen*ger be*tween nerve cells, works through in*de*pend*ent chan*nels
to
con*trol wheth*er you eat ver*sus what to do with those calo*ries once
you've
eat*en them.

"These out*puts are re*lat*ed, but they are not con*se*quenc*es of each
oth*er. It's not that feed*ing is*n't im*por*tant," Ash*rafi added. The
find*ings ap*pear in the June is*sue of the re*search jour*nal Cell
Me*tab*o*lism.

Ash*rafi sus*pects at a fun*da*men*tal lev*el the worm find*ings can be
ex*trap*o*lated to hu*mans, giv*en ser*o*to*nin's an*cient ev*o*lu*tion*
ary
ori*gins.

This in turn may mean one could de*vel*op ther*a*pies "to ma*ni*pu*late
fat
me*tab*o*lism in*de*pend*ently of what you eat," he said. "Now, the fo*
cus
is pri*marily on feed*ing be*hav*ior. As im*por*tant as that is, it's
only
part of the sto*ry. it may be one rea*son di*ets fail."

While fat regula*t*ion is at one lev*el a rel*a*tively sim*ple bal*ance
be*tween en*er*gy in*take and out*put, the phys*i*ol*o*gy is none*the*
less
quite com*plex, Ash*rafi said. The re*search*ers at*tempted to dis*sect
that
com*plex*ity us*ing the worm C. el*e*gans, which is much sim*pler to work
with than mam*mals.

They found in the worms that ser*o*to*nin's con*trol of eat*ing in*volves
mo*le*cules not needed for fat con*trol. Its ef*fects on fat de*pend on a
sep*a*rate neu*ral chan*nel and mo*le*cules that spark sig*nals lead*ing
to
the break*down of fat, Ash*rafi said; the byprod*ucts of that pro*cess
then
come "full cir*cle" and gov*ern feed*ing be*hav*ior.

The find*ings show that, as in mam*mals, C. el*e*gans eat*ing de*pends on
both in*ter*nal and en*vi*ron*men*tal cues, the re*search*ers wrote:
"feed*ing be*hav*ior and fat me*tab*o*lism are co*or*di*nated but
in*de*pend*ent re*sponses of the nerv*ous sys*tem to the per*cep*tion of
nu*tri*ent avail*abil*ity."





--
Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/

On Jun 6, 7:13*am, Bob wrote:
This is why Good calories, bad calories by Taubes should be required *
reading in any class about dieting or nutrition.


Also, the fact that obesity depends on metabolic issues should come as
no surprise. We all know people who can eat relatively large amounts
of most everything and still remain thin. And others who have
trouble keepin weight off though eating much less and doing similar
activity.







On Thu, 05 Jun 2008 16:08:45 -0400, FOB *
wrote:





Obesity may not be directly due to eating
June 3, 2008
Courtesy Cell Press
and World Science staff
Wheth*er you're fat or thin is only in*di*rectly de*ter*mined by your
eat*ing habits, sug*gest re*search*ers who re*port new find*ings with a
study us*ing worms.

They found that both eat*ing and fat in worms de*pends on lev*els of a
sub*stance called ser*o*to*nin in the nerv*ous sys*tem. Yet it seems the
"con*trol of fat is dis*tinct from" that of eat*ing, said Ka*veh Ash*
rafi of
the Uni*ver*s*ity of Cal*i*for*nia, San Fran*cis*co, one of the
sci*en*tists.

The re*search*ers found ev*i*dence that ser*o*to*nin, which acts as a
mes*sen*ger be*tween nerve cells, works through in*de*pend*ent chan*nels *
to
con*trol wheth*er you eat ver*sus what to do with those calo*ries once *
you've
eat*en them.

"These out*puts are re*lat*ed, but they are not con*se*quenc*es of each
oth*er. It's not that feed*ing is*n't im*por*tant," Ash*rafi added. The
find*ings ap*pear in the June is*sue of the re*search jour*nal Cell
Me*tab*o*lism.

Ash*rafi sus*pects at a fun*da*men*tal lev*el the worm find*ings can be
ex*trap*o*lated to hu*mans, giv*en ser*o*to*nin's an*cient ev*o*lu*tion*
ary
ori*gins.

This in turn may mean one could de*vel*op ther*a*pies "to ma*ni*pu*late *
fat
me*tab*o*lism in*de*pend*ently of what you eat," he said. "Now, the fo*
cus
is pri*marily on feed*ing be*hav*ior. As im*por*tant as that is, it's *
only
part of the sto*ry. it may be one rea*son di*ets fail."

While fat regula*t*ion is at one lev*el a rel*a*tively sim*ple bal*ance
be*tween en*er*gy in*take and out*put, the phys*i*ol*o*gy is none*the*
less
quite com*plex, Ash*rafi said. The re*search*ers at*tempted to dis*sect *
that
com*plex*ity us*ing the worm C. el*e*gans, which is much sim*pler to work
with than mam*mals.

They found in the worms that ser*o*to*nin's con*trol of eat*ing in*volves
mo*le*cules not needed for fat con*trol. Its ef*fects on fat de*pend on a
sep*a*rate neu*ral chan*nel and mo*le*cules that spark sig*nals lead*ing *
to
the break*down of fat, Ash*rafi said; the byprod*ucts of that pro*cess *
then
come "full cir*cle" and gov*ern feed*ing be*hav*ior.

The find*ings show that, as in mam*mals, C. el*e*gans eat*ing de*pends on
both in*ter*nal and en*vi*ron*men*tal cues, the re*search*ers wrote:
"feed*ing be*hav*ior and fat me*tab*o*lism are co*or*di*nated but
in*de*pend*ent re*sponses of the nerv*ous sys*tem to the per*cep*tion of
nu*tri*ent avail*abil*ity."

--
Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client:http://www.opera.com/mail/- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -