'Beer Belly' Enzyme Discovered In Time For Xmas

dbolger writes: "azcentral.com has this article about how scientists in Boston have found the enzyme that causes fat cells to cluster around the stomach. The hope is that this discovery will eventually lead to a "cure" for the male beer belly. Good news for those "activity challenged" geeks among us, especially at this time of year :)"

Comments

Exercise

[Karma 50]

Okay, so abdominal fat is worse than other sorts; but inhibiting this enzyme still means the fat is going to end up somewhere else.

The real cure for beer-bellies is proper diet and exercise.

Drugs like the one proposed just encourage laziness, but laziness is the primary problem.

Re:Exercise

[Ivan Raikov]

Drugs like the one proposed just encourage laziness, but laziness is the primary problem.

Well, I'd say that's only half the problem. Let's not forget the huge amounts of stress inflicted upon us in this rapid-pace, highly complex post-modern society, and the enormous geographical distances, which predispose people to driving everywhere, instead of walking (or bicycling).

Re:Exercise

[naig]

When we are talking about beer-bellies, I think the proper way
to get rid of them is to consume less beer. Exercise, of course,
also helps.

The real question, though, is how to succeed in that..

Not only am I the inventor...

[imrdkl]

I'll also be a client!

Woohoo!

[alfredw]

This means we can expect all sorts of cool things like:

• Beer Shoulders
• Beer Thighs
• Beer Tits

and, of course...

• Beer Ass!

I can't wait!

Re:Woohoo!

[10.0.0.1]

Don't forget the Beer Nuts!

Excercise myth

[olman]

Excercise?

Excercise doesn't do jack. Period.
Just do the math, one hour in gym increases your daily energy consumption in _low single digit_ percentage.

I repeat: One hour of _heavy labour_ has *minimal* effect on your daily energy use.

Ok, got that?

So what you're left with is choking the energy and especially fat input.. When you have *that* under control, it's beneficial to excercise some, which forces your body to speed up metabolism to cope with periodical energy-drain sessions. That could mean taking bicycle to work.. Combine that with your starvin' marvin' diet and you *can actually lose weight*!!

Excercise? Oh please. Unless your work is manual labor and you actually exercise 8 hours, five days a week, excercise *still is not going to do jack*.

Re:Excercise myth

[dstone]

On the days I work out, I come home STARVED. I hit the gym and by the time I get home, I'm not that hungry.

That sounds a bit bizarre to me. Are you sure you're starved? If your body is actually hungry for fueld (ie, not a mental habit or food addiction) and you do heavy physical work, it sounds like a recipe for bonking.

Since you're talking about adding muscle mass, I hope you're at least eating when you get home. To add muscle mass, it's generally accepted that you should use the "glycogen window" within an hour (some say longer, some say shorter) of a long exercise session. ie, fuel up with a good amound of primarily carbs within that window and your body will convert carbohydrates to muscle glycogen at triple the rate it normally would. As time passes after the workout, the rate drops, so the sooner the better. Naturally, rehydration is pretty important.

Mind you, this is only important if you're trying to put on more muscle mass. If you're a big, muscley, chubby person to start with and you're looking to get slimmer, this probably won't achieve the desired result.

Re:Excercise myth

[hughk]

Depends upon the exercise. Activity in cold and at altitude definitely burns stuff off very quickly. Try skiing every other weekend and just watch how fast stuff goes - even if you do the apres.

Of course the heavy stuff is ski-mountaineering but that is too athletic for me. Alterntively, just try Himalayan mountaineering or work in the Arctic/Antarctic. The minimum intake per day is such that you burn a lot off fast.

But you are right, ordinary exercise doesn't really hack it, except, perhaps swimming.

Re:Excercise myth

[Bullschmidt]

Wow.. thats completely false. When you exercise for an hour, you can burn on the order or 600-700 Calories (yes, with a capital C, and yes, there is a difference). Given the average person burns about 2500 a day, this is in fact very significant. Plus, exercising raises your metabolism for nearly an hour afterwards, so you continues to burn calories. Please do a little research. Of course exercise won't cure over eating - if you eat those extra 600 Calories, you're not going to lose weight. I speak from MUCH experience as a lightweight athelete (no, not a starving wrestler), who had to monitor his weight carefully.

Re:Excercise myth

[King_TJ]

Yeah, but there are two other things to consider. First and foremost, what kind of long-term injury are you potentially causing with the exercise/workouts? I think this is worth considering, despite the "health conscious" folks who want to discount it as irrelevant.

People who jog a lot end up with bad knees, and knee surgery is not only quite expensive, but unreliable. Once you get a knee replacement, you can count on repeated future surgeries to maintain it.

Look at any ex professional athlete, and they've got all sorts of physical problems ranging from bad backs to arthritis to worn out joints.

It really seems like common sense to just reduce the calorie intake if you're gaining undesireable weight. Trying to exercise/work-out is the less efficient and safe way to accomplish the same goal.

You'd spend more time on the toilet

[ClubPetey]

I've seen several people comment about the relocation of the fat to another part of the body. IANAB (I am not a biologist) but my understanding is that if the enzyme does not process the fat it will move through your system and come out as waste. The fat will not go anywhere but the toilet.

Since you are not taking in any more fat, the fat you have will be burned off during the normal course of the day and you will lose weight.

Re:Fat busting pills?

[statusbar]

When will it stop?

You sound like you are very stressed. Maybe depressed too.

Here, take these two pills. They will make you feel MUCH better!

--
But for now we'll just say Momma was real real bad.
she was being mean to Dad. That made him real real mad.

Get off the blaming

[capedgirardeau]

Ok, ok I know its late and these non front pagers are hardly read, but I have to say:

Stop saying all people with weight problems are like that because they eat like pigs.

I would hope that in the 21st century some of the information about biology and metabolism might have leaked into your tiny minds.

Here's the short version:

People are different, some are tall some are short, some have big feet and some don't. Some have body odor and some have halitosis. Some like the same sex and some don't.

And some *gasp* metabolize food at a different rate, pace, level or in a non standard way! Just as a diabetic about metabolism and body chemistry.

So please learn a little something before you blame them for their wieght problems, many do everything they can to change they way they look, but it requires they change the way they metabolize food and store fat.

Its like blaming bald people for not growing hair, geeze, just grow some f***ing hair you lazy sloths.

Re:Get off the blaming

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

"Stop saying all people with weight problems are like that because they eat like pigs."

Absolutely right ! and also, sometimes, weight problems are not problems at all.

I personally weight over 250 lbs, I'm about 6 feet tall, and most of my overweight is not muscle by any mean. By today's medical standards, while I'm not grossly overweight, I believe I am considered obese.

*but*

I do 3000 miles a year on my bike, I play pool semi-professionally (and believe me, when you have to stay on your feet and bend over that pool table for hours every day, it is a sport), I regularly go to the swimming pool, my blood pressure, cholesterol level and heart rythms are perfect, and I eat healthy and reasonably (healthy food, like a varied diet of everything in healthy proportions, not Weight Watcher crap).

Do I have a problem ? possibly, I might have knee problems later in life, and other side effect of overweight, but I guess it's no worse than having a tendency to develop skin cancer, or arthritis, and everybody is born with something wrong somewhere. But am I sick ? hell no! I'm just heavier than average. I guess I'll never be a ballerina, but I think I can get over the disappointment.

Get off the despair

[Yet Another Smith]

The percentage of weight problems, especially in this country (USA) that are the result of metabolic disorders is very small. Few fat people ery few thin people are thin solely because of higher metabolism. The number one determinant of obesity is activity. The number two determinant is dietary habits.

Also, these things are controlable. The bald man cannot exactly change his hair loss, but the overweight can make dietary and lifestyle changes to control their problem. And it is a problem. There are serious health effects of obesity.

And this is not just a thin man railing against fatties. I am badly out of shape, and its not because I'm cursed with bad genes, its because I sit behind a desk for 8-10 hours a day, eat out 2-3 times per day, and sit in front of the television or my computer with a coke or a beer every night after I get home. If I'm going to complain about how I look, I have to accept the fact that I have no excuse. I am the way I am because I haven't gotten up and gone out and ridden my bike or run around the block on any regular basis for over two years.

By the way, body odor and halitosis are largely manageable health problems too. 90% of severe halitosis problems can be controlled with more frequent brushing. Sure, it sucks to have a slower metabolism or stinkier mouth than other folks. And anyone who judges you based solely on the basis of that sort of thing is a dickweed. But if you have a manageable health problem, and you don't take the required steps to manage it, you are to blame, not your genes.

Your statement about diabetics is particularly off the mark. My grandfather had diabetes. His was caused by chronic obesity when he was younger (from about age 25 to 50). However, despite the serious metabolic and chemical problems caused by diabetes, he decided that he had to kick that if he was going to live, and so he carefully controlled his diet, began excersizing regularly, and lost the weight. It was only through his controling his disease that he avoided the circulatory problems, blindness, and other disastrous health problems caused by diabetes.

Truly some small portion of the current explosion of obesity in America is the result of serious metabolic disorders, but most is the result of lifestyle choices, and the sooner we recognize that, the sooner we can start making the changes necessary to solve the problem. Most of us need to understand that WE are in control of our problems, not our blood chemistry. We can solve this, and if we don't, we have no one to blame but ourselves.