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from the just-another-reason-to-not-be-obese dept.
Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard
Obesity leads to the release of cytokines into the bloodstream which impact the metabolism of breast cancer cells, making them more aggressive as a result. Scientists from Helmholtz Zentrum München, Technical University of Munich (TUM), and Heidelberg University Hospital report on this in 'Cell Metabolism'. The team has already been able to halt this mechanism with an antibody treatment.
The number of people with obesity is increasing rapidly worldwide. The German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) recently reported that according to the WHO the number of children and adolescents with obesity increased tenfold between 1975 and 2016. Severe overweight can lead to various health impairments. Besides inducing cardiovascular diseases, obesity for example also promotes the development of cancer and metastases.
The current study elucidates an as yet unknown mechanism making breast cancer more aggressive. The enzyme ACC1* plays a central role in this process," said Dr. Mauricio Berriel Diaz, deputy director of the Institute for Diabetes and Cancer (IDC) at Helmholtz Zentrum München. He led the study together with Stephan Herzig, director of the IDC and professor for Molecular Metabolic Control at TUM and Heidelberg University Hospital. "ACC1 is a key component of fatty acid synthesis," said Berriel Diaz. "However, its function is impaired by the cytokines leptin and TGF-β." The levels of these cytokines are increased particularly in the blood of severely overweight subjects.
(Score: 2) by KiloByte on Wednesday October 25 2017, @12:31AM (2 children)
And what, pray tell, "chemical imbalances" can make a person get fat without eating?
Health issues can work only the other way: make you lose weight (even to the point of death) despite eating. The opposite is physically impossible: have energy intake lower than expenditures, and your weight will decrease. All that hormones and "chemical imbalances" can do is affect the effectiveness of metabolism, or how aggressively your body tries to conserve energy. This does change what the amount you need for your weight to stay level is, but in such case: just eat less than that.
I'm not claiming that self-control is a trivial thing: overeating is an addiction that works very similarly to nicotine, and smoking cessation is not exactly easy. But claims that an illness can make you get fat are exactly as bunk as saying an illness can force you to smoke.
Ceterum censeo systemd esse delendam.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 25 2017, @01:40AM
Some hormonal problem might result in a feeling of extreme hunger even when the body doesn't need the food.
Or, maybe, such a problem results in energy being stored in fat despite the fact that the rest of the body needs the energy for normal metabolism, thereby requiring unusually high food intake just to live, etc.
The human body is a very complex system. It wouldn't be surprising in the slightest for there to be some problem that results in weight gain.
Let's see... YUP. A number of medications for one problem end up causing weight gain. So, there you go. That's at least proof that a "chemical imbalance" could result in obesity.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 25 2017, @02:00AM
I'd say it's not quite as acute as nicotine withdrawal, but it's much more persistent, if that makes sense.
To compound that, an unhealthy body is in constantly calorie conservation mode. Cortisol does that I believe. Cannabis can counteract that.
However, a new diet does take some getting used to. I say diet, but I don't mean fad diets. I mean diet, as in what food habits can I reprogram to serve me well for the rest of my life? I hit a wall when I was losing weight recently. I started a food journal and meticulously noted how many calories what I ate had. Then I reduced the maximum number of calories I could eat in a day: ice cream, candy, or more healthy options like rice or steak, it was totally up to me how I wanted to allocate my calorie budget. I started losing weight again.
In fact, the odd thing is that now that I'm around my ideal weight, I've had some trouble raising my calorie budget. That's how used to only having 800 kcal per day to allocate I was. I just never, ever want to be fat again. Therefore, I'm finding food habits that will serve me well for the rest of my life.
I was feeling depressed today, so I had a small box of sour gummy worms. Heh, it didn't make me feel any better, but I had unallocated calories in my budget, so I feel no guilt about it. Tomorrow I'll get a new budget, and today's indulgences needn't affect tomorrow's budget.