Torpor, Sloth and Gluttony

AMPK is Kryptonite to the Nuclear Receptor “Superfamily”

Summary  Activating AMPK in the livers of mice prevents diet induced obesity despite higher caloric consumption Mice with activated AMPK have lower levels of cytochrome P450 enzymes that produce 12-HETE and 15-HETE – specific activators of PPAR gamma Mice with activated AMPK have higher rates of both fat and glucose metabolism AMPK blocks the pathway …

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The AhR is the Keymaster to Torpor

My last posts were viewed by some as pessimistic in a “once you’re obese, you are stuck” kind of way.  I don’t believe that and very soon I will start writing about solutions.  Having said that, this post will perhaps seem pessimistic if you thought the previous ones were.  I’m working through the basic mechanisms …

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PPAR gamma With Oxidized PUFA is the Gatekeeper to Metabolic Inflexibility

In a recent post I talked about three groups of pigs with differing levels of insulin sensitivity. Group 1 was fed a low fat diet and remained insulin sensitive. Group 2 was given 40% of calories as a special soybean oil blend with the triply unsaturated alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) largely removed.  These pigs became what …

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Accumulating Linoleic Acid Prevents Diabetes

This is from the EPIC Potsdam study in Germany, which looked at the association between membrane phospholipid composition, diet and type 2 diabetes risk.​1​ Read it and weep. It looks like linoleic acid prevents diabetes after all.  Time to shut down the blog, run out and buy some corn oil. KIDDING! Remember what happened to …

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Obesity prone pigs go from Normal to Pathological Insulin Sensitivity to Torpor when given enough PUFA

Hap MD asked me if I had any thoughts on Ossabaw pigs.  They are interesting because they are one of the only animals other than humans who spontaneously have heart attacks (the only?).  Ossabaw piings are descended from Spanish pigs that were dropped on Ossabaw island off of the coast of Georgia, United States, in …

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This Is How Linoleic Acid Makes You Fat, Leptin Resistant and Torpid

I’ve written a lot about the strong correlation between the Desaturase Index (DI) and human obesity. DI is an indirect indicator of the activity of the SCD1 gene. I have also suggested that the consumption of linoleic acid – the primary Omega 6 polyunsaturated fat (PUFA) in the human diet found in vegetable oil, bacon …

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The Cruel Irony of “Eat Less, Move More”

There are many believers in a reductionist calories in, calories out (CICO) view of the world. People in this tribe often say things like, “to lose weight, you just have to eat less and move more.” I want to be clear, I believe in calories in, calories out from a strict thermodynamic perspective. Calories you …

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Leptin Increase Your Metabolic Rate And Keeps You Lean By Making You Inefficient at Walking

Introduction This is part of my Torpor, Sloth and Gluttony series where I will argue that obesity is caused not by sloth and gluttony but by specific metabolic processes. Leptin is a hormone produced by fat cells. The fatter one gets, the more circulating leptin one has. Leptin is the master hormone whose job is …

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Torpor, Sloth and Gluttony: SCD1 CAUSES Humans to Store Fat

Introduction My thesis in this series is that humans get fat NOT from sloth and gluttony, human characteristics wrapped in morality and asceticism. They in fact get fat from torpor, an underlying metabolic change triggered by consuming linoleic acid. In my previous article I introduced the concepts of this series as well as the idea …

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Torpor, Sloth and Gluttony Part 1: Americans ate a LOT in 1939

Introuction to Torpor, Sloth an Gluttony This is the first post in my new “Sloth and Gluttony” series where I will be arguing that the obesity epidemic was NOT caused by billions of people around the globe simultaneously becoming slothful and gluttonous. I will argue that in fact the reasons are biological and evolutionarily conserved. …

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Humans and Hibernating Mammals React to The Same Amount of Dietary Linoleic Acid in the Same Way. By Becoming Torpid.

As a biologist, I always think in evolutionary terms. All mammals share a single ancestor who had developed a warm-blooded metabolism. Many mammals hibernate: bears, ground squirrels, skunks, bats, anteaters, etc. To hibernate, you have to throttle back your warm-blooded metabolism to a torpid one allowing your metabolic rate and body temperature to drop. Since …

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Metabolic Rates In American Men Plunged Between 1919 and 1987

Introduction If you follow this blog you probably won’t be SHOCKED that I’m following up Metabolic Rates in American Women Plunged Between 1919 and 1986 with this post. The same group that did the 1986 paper about metabolic rates in women followed it up with a paper about men in 1987.​1​ They conclude, “The classic …

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Metabolic Rates in American Women Plunged Between 1919 and 1986

Intro I have suggested that increased consumption of the Omega 6 polyunsatured fat (PUFA) linoleic acid throughout the 20th century has led to an American population where the majority of us are in a torpor-like state as defined by high levels of stored PUFA in our bodyfat coupled with high expression of the transcription factor …

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