Insulin regulates blood glucose primarily by two mechanisms: Suppressing glucose production by the liverEnhancing glucose uptake by other tissues, particularly muscle and liverSince the cells contained in liver, muscle and other tissues respond directly to insulin stimulation, most people don't think about the role of the brain in this process. An interesting paper just published in Diabetes reminds us of the central role of the brain in glucose metabolism as well as body fat regulation (1). Investigators showed...
Friday, 28 October 2011
Sunday, 23 October 2011
Harvard Food Law Society "Forum on Food Policy" TEDx Conference
Posted by Admin
Last Friday, it was my pleasure to attended and present at the Harvard Food Law Society's TEDx conference, Forum on Food Policy. I had never been to Cambridge or Boston before, and I was struck by how European they feel compared to Seattle. The conference was a great success, thanks to the dedicated efforts of the Food Law Society's presidents Nate Rosenberg, Krista DeBoer, and many other volunteers. Dr. Robert Lustig gave a keynote address on Thursday evening, which I unfortunately wasn't able to attend due...
Monday, 17 October 2011
Losing Fat With Simple Food-- Two Reader Anecdotes
Posted by Admin in: diet Food reward hyperphagia overweight success stories
Each week, I'm receiving more e-mails and comments from people who are successfully losing fat by eating simple (low reward) food, similar to what I described here. In some cases, people are breaking through fat loss plateaus that they had reached on conventional low-carbohydrate, low-fat or paleo diets. This concept can be applied to any type of diet, and I believe it is an important characteristic of ancestral food patterns.At the Ancestral Health Symposium, I met two Whole Health Source readers, Aravind Balasubramanian...
Friday, 7 October 2011
The Case for the Food Reward Hypothesis of Obesity, Part II
Posted by Admin in: diet Food reward genetics hyperphagia overweight superstimuli
In this post, I'll explore whether or not the scientific evidence is consistent with the predictions of the food reward hypothesis, as outlined in the last post. Before diving in, I'd like to address the critique that the food reward concept is a tautology or relies on circular reasoning (or is not testable/falsifiable). This critique has no logical basis. The reward and palatability value of a food is not defined by its effect on energy intake or body fatness. In the research setting, food reward is measured...
Saturday, 1 October 2011
The Case for the Food Reward Hypothesis of Obesity, Part I
Posted by Admin in: diet Food reward hyperphagia overweight
IntroductionWhen you want to investigate something using the scientific method, first you create a model that you hope describes a natural phenomenon-- this is called a hypothesis. Then you go about testing that model against reality, under controlled conditions, to see if it has any predictive power. There is rarely a single experiment, or single study, that can demonstrate that a hypothesis is correct. Most important hypotheses require many mutually buttressing lines of evidence from multiple research groups...
