Fat cells and Time Magazine

[Guest guest]

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There is an article in Time Magazine this week about fat cells that

you'all might find interesting. It lays out some of what is becoming

known about fat cells ... the chemicals they produce, how they work,

and how the appetite works.

One thing they bring up is that fat cells produce all kinds of inflammatory

agents, esp. when they are over-full of fat. They also produce Leptin,

when there is " enough " fat (who knows how that is determined?), which

makes the brain less hungry so the body shouldn't reach a condition where

there is an excess of fat. However, for some unknown reason, fat people's

brains seem to be in a state of " leptin resistance " where the leptin doesn't

have it's desired effect. Anyway, these inflammatory agents might be

at the root of the heart disease and arthritis etc. that tend to go with

being overweight.

Anyway, this got me thinking about the whole fattening process with

steer and pigs. Aquatic animals are *normally* fat, so maybe a fat

pig is ok, since pigs are semi-aquatic (they wallow all day in mud, given

a chance, kind of like hippos). But steer are normally fairly lean, except

when artificially fattened by confinement and grain. So you would think

that they would have the same issues as people, producing all kinds

of inflammatory compounds. Which might be the reason that some

studies link eating " red meat " with inflammation in humans.

The article cites the old " humans aren't used to a surplus of food "

argument to explain why humans are too fat now, which of course

I disagree with. I mean, the French and Japanese aren't exactly living

in a state of starvation, and they are a whole lot skinnier than Americans.

Also, since I've been on the Warrior Diet, my brain seems to have

gotten out of it's state of leptin-resistance and my appetite has gotten

much less (I still have more fat than is good for me, I think, so it makes

sense I would eat less). They don't mention fasting at all, and seem

more interested in a new drug that might turn off hunger some. It seems

there are receptors, named " canniboid receptors " that are stimulated

when you smoke marijuana, which, folks have noticed, makes you very

hungry. So they made a drug that blocks those receptors, and folks

lose weight. Of course they gain it all back when they stop the drug,

so it should be really good for the company selling it.

Anyway, except for the usual caveats, it's a nice article. Their writing

style is easy to understand, good pictures.

Heidi Jean