Obesity and more.....

Well it seems as ever you learn far more from reading the comments section of aritcles than the actual articles themselves.

This post is just a summation of some interesting information and to serve as a bookmark.

Brain dopamine and obesity.

"The availability of dopamine D2 receptor was decreased in obese individuals in proportion to their BMI."

Dopamine signalling is an important way for your brain to decide if ingested calories go towards energy and reproduction or if its just going to be stored in fat cells. There is some evidence that dopamine agonists ( i.e. dopamine receptor activators ) can help with keeping metabolsim high and helping partition calories towards energy production instead of storage. Drugs such as Bromocriptine and Cabergoline and Pergolide have been implicated.

Activation of dopamine D2 receptors simultaneously ameliorates various metabolic features of obese women.

"Thus these results imply that short-term bromocriptine treatment ameliorates various components of the metabolic syndrome while it shifts energy balance away from lipogenesis in obese humans."

Childhood obesity: behavioral aberration or biochemical drive? Reinterpreting the First Law of Thermodynamics.

Interesting paper by Lustig.

Attenuated GLP-1 secretion in obesity: cause or consequence?

"Postprandial GLP-1 secretion in response to oral carbohydrate is considerably attenuated in obese subjects. The cause of this attenuation of GLP-1 secretion is not known although we suggest that both this fall and the overall reduction in GLP-1 values in obese subjects may be related to an increase in plasma non-esterified fatty acids."

Thanks to Itsthewoo for pointing this paper out.

Diet high in oat β-glucan activates the gut-hypothalamic (PYY(3-36) -NPY) axis and increases satiety in diet-induced obesity in mice

Just throwing it out there. Will read up on it more when I get time.

Another take at muscle building

I had this idea the other day that I may have overlooked in my research on muscle building. The golden rule of biology is that, in all circumstances, cells always seek to adapt to thier environment in such a way so as to maintain homeostasis with that environment.

In light of this, it may not be wise to complete strength training sets to failure or near failure. Going to failure surely creates an environment for the cell that ultimately favours aerobic respiration, i.e, high endurance. So this is what the cell adapts to, endurance, i.e. lots of type I fibres with densely packed mitochondria.

It could therefore be alot more beneifical to not go anywhere near failure when performing a set, giving us the stimulation for type II fibre hypertrophy WITHOUT the stimulation for many high endurance type I fibres.

This is just another theory, I will test it on myself in the coming months by only performing enough reps in a set to take me to about ~70% close to failure.

For example, if for a given weight I can only perform 12 reps of bicep curls before I hit failure, ( so I cannot complete the 13th rep ), then I will pick that weight and only do sets of 8 reps.

To compensate for the reduced volume this would bring ( and we know that volume is one of the important things for building muscle ), I will increase the total number of sets I do for a given exercise , 1-2 or something, depending on how I feel the muscle is coping.

Cooling the brain and insomnia

Cooling the Brain During Sleep May Be a Natural and Effective Treatment for Insomnia

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110613093502.htm

β-Hydroxybutyrate is the preferred substrate for GABA

β-Hydroxybutyrate is the preferred substrate for GABA and glutamate synthesis while glucose is indispensable during depolarization in cultured GABAergic neurons.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21684314

Mitochondrial Uncoupling

The ketogenic diet increases mitochondrial glutathione levels.

"Together, the results demonstrate that the KD up-regulates GSH biosynthesis, enhances mitochondrial antioxidant status, and protects mtDNA from oxidant-induced damage."

I also found this study recently which was interesting.....

Glutathionylation acts as a control switch for uncoupling proteins UCP2 and UCP3.

The two are related it seems, i think it presents a novel explanation for uncoupling protein increase on a ketogenic diet.

Advice and Confidence - Dan Ariely

Dan Ariely has some truely amazing and shocking revelations on his site here, but since I have spent the last few months trading I was particularly interested in these 2 articles,

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/predictably-irrational/200907/the-value-advice

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/predictably-irrational/200907/were-more-swayed-confidence-expertise

The bottom line is, advice from sources we presume to be more informed than us pretty much shuts down our brains own decision making machinery.

Also, we find confidence far more seducing than expertise.

Thigh, Bum and Belly Fat Differentials

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20682685

This study suggests that overall flux of fat into thigh/bum area is less easily done as compared into the belly area, and the belly area more easily takes up dietary fat compared to thigh/bum fat.