Until about two years ago, the story went something like this: calorie restriction extends lifespan in yeast, worms, flies, and rodents. Lifespan extension by calorie restriction appears to be biologically universal, therefore it's probably only a matter of time until it's demonstrated in humans as well. More than 20 years ago, independent teams of researchers set out to demonstrate the phenomenon in macaque monkeys, a primate model closer to humans than any lifespan model previously tested. Recent findings have...
Wednesday, 29 August 2012
Wednesday, 22 August 2012
AHS11 Talk Posted
Posted by Admin in: Food reward overweight presentations
After a one-year delay, my talk from the 2011 Ancestral Health Symposium is online with slides synched. The talk is titled "Obesity: Old Solutions for a New Problem", and it's an overview of some of the research linking food reward to food intake and body fatness. This is the talk that introduced a fundamentally new idea to the ancestral community: not only does the chemical composition of food matter, but also its sensory qualities-- in fact, the sensory qualities of food are among the primary determinants of food...
Thursday, 16 August 2012
Ancestral Health Symposium 2012
Posted by Admin in: diet evolution Food reward low-carb metabolic syndrome overweight paleolithic diet presentations research bloopers
I recently returned from AHS12 and a little side trip to visit family. The conference was hosted at Harvard University through the Harvard Food Law Society. Many thanks to all the organizers who made it happen. By and large, it went smoothly.The science as expected ranged from outstanding to mediocre, but I was really encouraged by the presence and enthusiastic participation of a number of quality researchers and clinicians. The basic concept of ancestral health is something almost anyone can get behind: many...
Saturday, 4 August 2012
Lorcaserin: the Latest FDA-approved Obesity Drug
Posted by Admin in: overweight
The FDA recently approved a new drug called lorcaserin (brand name Belviq) for the treatment of obesity. Lorcaserin causes an average of 13 lbs (5.8 kg) of weight loss over a year, compared to 5 lbs (2.2 kg) for placebo (1), which is less than the other recently approved drug Qsymia (formerly Qnexa; topiramate/phentermine).Learning about obesity drugs is always a good opportunity to gain insight into the mechanisms that underlie the development and reversal of obesity. If you've been following this blog for a while,...
Thursday, 2 August 2012
Two Great Quotes About Obesity (technical)
Posted by Admin in: hyperphagia overweight superstimuli
By Dr. Hans-Rudolf Berthoud, from a recent paper, "The Neurobiology of Food Intake in an Obesogenic Environment" (1). I came across it because it cites my review paper (2). My perspective on obesity is similar to his. From the abstract:The modern lifestyle with its drastic changes in the way we eat and move puts pressure on the homoeostatic system responsible for the regulation of body weight, which has led to an increase in overweight and obesity. The power of food cues targeting susceptible emotions and...
