Recent Research on Metabolism

It’s been a busy week…

New genetic variants that influence fat mass

 

Half the UK population has the fat “gene” – ie “sequence of genes”
…which I affectionately call the “I can’t eat this crap” gene

The sequence they discovered is not a gene, but it sits close to a gene called MC4R, which regulates energy levels in the body by influencing how much we eat and how much energy we expend or conserve. It is thought the sequence might play a role in controlling activity levels of the MC4R gene.

 

Dairy claims false: neither dairy nor calcium intake promotes weight loss

“Our findings demonstrate that increasing dairy product intake does not consistently result in weight or fat loss and may actually have the opposite effect,” the authors conclude.

 

Human metabolic phenotype diversity and its association with diet and blood pressure: Causes Of Disease Can Be Revealed By Metabolic Fingerprinting

Metabolic fingerprinting looks at the relative levels of many different metabolites, which are the products of metabolism, in a person’s blood or urine. Metabolites act as markers which can reveal a lot about how diet and lifestyle contribute to risks for certain diseases.

 

Aspirin-like compounds increase insulin secretion in otherwise healthy obese people

Aspirin-like compounds (salicylates) can claim another health benefit: increasing the amount of insulin produced by otherwise healthy obese people. Obesity is associated with insulin resistance, the first step toward type 2 diabetes.

How is that a benefit? Useful info but bad analysis. Good deconstruction here.

 

I missed this one earlier… Ha! I didn’t see it until it hit the BBC….
Vitamin A, E & Beta-carotene “seem to increase mortality”
I’d love to hear what the stats were on Vitamin D but it wasn’t covered

After various factors were taken into account and a further 20 studies excluded, the researchers linked vitamin A supplements to a 16% increased risk of dying, beta-carotene to a 7% increased risk and vitamin E to a 4% increased risk.

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