The Obesity Epidemic: What Can Be Done to Stop It?

  • Thread starter DanP
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    Obesity
In summary, the medical system takes steps to raise awareness of the obesity epidemic by teaching nutrition and exercise, but ultimately it is up to the individual to make healthy choices. Governments should make nutrition and health education mandatory in schools, similar to reading and writing. However, interventions such as taxes on junk food and banning it from schools may not be effective. The issue of obesity is complex and cannot be solely blamed on personal choices, as some medical conditions and socioeconomic factors play a role.
  • #176
dgtech said:
Cooking concentrates fats into longer chains which are harder to burn and temperature destroys vitamins. The link you posted actually supports most of the things I said and says nothing about synthesis in the human body.

If anything, it says "INGESTION" which means you eat it, not synthesize it

Humans can synthesize L-carnitine but can't acetylate it, that's what I've been taught at school and if if you have information suggesting otherwise, I'd be happy to fix that eventual educational mistake ;)

read more, type less

ALCAR is an acetylated derivative of L-carnitine. During strenuous exercise, a large portion of L-carnitine and unused acetyl-CoA are converted to ALCAR inside mitochondria by carnitine O-acetyltransferase.[1]

you might also want to look up the meaning of the word endogenous

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19720100
Adv Drug Deliv Rev. 2009 Nov 30;61(14):1332-42. Epub 2009 Aug 29.
Mitochondria in the elderly: Is acetylcarnitine a rejuvenator?

Rosca MG, Lemieux H, Hoppel CL.

Center for Mitochondrial Diseases and Department of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
Abstract

Endogenous acetylcarnitine is an indicator of acetyl-CoA synthesized by multiple metabolic pathways involving carbohydrates, amino acids, fatty acids, sterols, and ketone bodies, and utilized mainly by the tricarboxylic acid cycle. Acetylcarnitine supplementation has beneficial effects in elderly animals and humans, including restoration of mitochondrial content and function. These effects appear to be dose-dependent and occur even after short-term therapy. In order to set the stage for understanding the mechanism of action of acetylcarnitine, we review the metabolism and role of this compound. We suggest that acetylation of mitochondrial proteins leads to a specific increase in mitochondrial gene expression and mitochondrial protein synthesis. In the aged rat heart, this effect is translated to increased cytochrome b content, restoration of complex III activity, and oxidative phosphorylation, resulting in amelioration of the age-related mitochondrial defect.

PMID: 19720100 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
 
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  • #177
Evo said:
Congrats! What do you win besides a hot body?
$200. My birthday is on the 27th, the day of the final weigh-in. Every year, we celebrate my birthday and Memorial Day by going to Long Beach Island and have steamed lobsters. This year I expect they'll be extra sweet.
 
  • #178
Jimmy Snyder said:
$200. My birthday is on the 27th, the day of the final weigh-in. Every year, we celebrate my birthday and Memorial Day by going to Long Beach Island and have steamed lobsters. This year I expect they'll be extra sweet.
Victory is sweet!
 
  • #179
Jimmy no longer qualifies for a free meal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_Attack_Grill" :approve:
 
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  • #180
Count Iblis said:
Jimmy no longer qualifies for a free meal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_Attack_Grill" :approve:
I never did. I see that part of the marketing strategy is to induce the PC crowd to do their advertising for them. It seems to be working. Hooray for them, I say.
 
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  • #181
I gained a few grams this morning in the form of twenty dollar bills.
 
  • #182
Congratulations Jimmy.
 
  • #183
Count Iblis said:
Jimmy no longer qualifies for a free meal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_Attack_Grill" :approve:

"Here" being the Heart Attack Grill. Their spokesman, a 575-pound, 29-year-old man, died Tuesday -- not of a heart attack, but of pneumonia.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/41899470/ns/today-food/

Good grief, his BMI was 63.

This may be a silly question but is obesity a risk factor for pneumonia?
 
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  • #184
There is some evidence out there that obesity may impair immune function.
 
  • #185
lisab said:
"Here" being the Heart Attack Grill. Their spokesman, a 575-pound, 29-year-old man, died Tuesday -- not of a heart attack, but of pneumonia.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/41899470/ns/today-food/

Good grief, his BMI was 63.

This may be a silly question but is obesity a risk factor for pneumonia?

It is a risk factor for almost everything... and at that weight I'd assume sleep apnea of some severity... also a risk factor.


575... my g-d... and 63 BMI?... I find that sad.

I myself fell to precipitous weight gain, but am in the process of reversing that. I don't weigh anything like 575, I'm 6'2" with a broad frame... and I don't think I could WALK at that weight!

Surely that kind of eating and lack of activity is nothing if not passive suicide.
 

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