Slashdot Mirror
Exercise and Caffeine May Activate Metabolic Genes
ananyo writes "A trip to the gym could mean not just losing pounds — but also chemical modifications from DNA in the form of methyl groups. The presence (or absence) of methyl groups at certain positions on DNA can affect gene expression. Researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm looked at the methylation status of genes in small biopsies taken from the thigh muscles of healthy young adults before and after a stint on an exercise bike. They found that, for some genes involved in energy metabolism, the workout demethylated the promoter regions (stretches of DNA that facilitate the transcription of particular genes). Genes unrelated to metabolism remained methylated. Furthermore, similar demethylation could be seen when cultured muscle cells were given a massive (probably lethal) dose of caffeine."
From TFA: ...“one would need to consume a caffeine equivalent of about 50 cups per day, almost close to a lethal dose”, she says. “Exercising is far easier if you ask me.”
Clearly, she doesn't know about the secret Mountain Dew IV that hackers use whilst lurking in their parents' basements...
FTFA:
Zierath cautions that this result does not imply that drinking coffee could be a replacement for exercise. Caffeine acts mainly through the central nervous system, and to see direct effects on muscle such as those in the rodent-cell experiments, “one would need to consume a caffeine equivalent of about 50 cups per day, almost close to a lethal dose”, she says. “Exercising is far easier if you ask me.”
It's hard to code while I exercise, and it's only almost close a lethal dose. If it doesn't kill me, will 50 cups of coffee make me stronger? ;)
Can we get an English translation of the summary?
IANAB (biochemist) but based on the article, methylation of a gene generally reduces its activity. In this case, exercising, forcing contractions in cultured cells, or near lethal does of caffeine in cell cultures resulted in less methylation on some genes involved in energy metabolism, presumably increasing how much they are expressed. The article does note that these genes may still be expressed when methylated.
Or if that's still unreadable, exercise changes how much some genes are active in muscle cells.
We've known for decades that there are many mechanisms for regulating what cells produce. This regulation happens at all stages of protein synthesis, from unwinding the DNA from the chromatin to excreting it outside the cell. Methylation of the promoters is merely an example of this regulation. It is not changing your genetic code and making you a mutant. It is a simple "on/off" switch, no different from having a protein recognize a particular sequence on the promoter and sticking to it. And, of course, no one should be surprized at the blindingly obvious finding that exercise regulates expression of genes related to metabolism.
All this research is "exciting" only because it identifies the regulation pathway and thereby opens the possibility of direct intervention in it. Soon there might be drugs that let you sloth around on the couch watching TV all day long, while making the body think it has been working out eight hours a day. And maybe these (very expensive) drugs may even succeed at intervening in all the places regular exercise does, from growing your muscles, to reducing fat deposits, to increasing blood supply throughout the body. Then all those slobs that are dying in droves today would suddenly become healthy (and broke) hardbodies, who will delight in stuffing lockers with the laid off nerds who created those drugs (and were no longer needed thereafter). Yes, nerds like you, dear Slashdot reader. And oh, how you'll cry! And oh, how I'll say I told you so.
What the heck does it mean? Even the linked Wikipedia article is a mass of technobabble understandable only to subject matter experts. How about something to tell us what these changes to gene expression (whatever that is) mean in human readable terms.
No. Sorry, but this is not the information you're looking for. You can go about your business. How can we mad scientists create our army of supermen (and women) if every Tom, Dick, and Harry can understand the user manual?
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
I drank 300 cups once. At that moment I was perfectly calm, and ran so fast I rescued my friends from a fire.
Anyways, My point is the more we understand how genes are expressed, and what they do, and the more we understand the chemical effects of exercise, we will be able to replace exercise with a pill.
I didn't not mean to imply we should all be taking a caffeine pill every 22 minutes.
Right now, I'll stick to loosing weight the old fashion way.. amphetamines.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
That because you brain adjust for expect caffeine consumption. The perks of caffeine are very short.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Your metabolism helps determine the number of calories you burn. Exercise burns calories directly and also increases your resting metabolism. Weight is still determined by calories in and calories out. As far as I know, there is nothing specific you can eat that is proven to boost your metabolism. While caffeine seems to have an effect on gene expression when taken in near-lethal amounts and injected directly into muscle, it's current use in diet pills is as an upper, diuretic, and appetite suppressant.
None of this violates the laws of thermodynamics. Although, if it did, The Matrix would suddenly make a lot more sense.
...and then run a mile. You'll live forever.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
You burn a more calories sleeping for 8 hours than you do running for 30 minutes at 8 MPH. So you can lose weight by simply eating less food without performing any exercises at all. But that's not the point of mentioning this. What is important about exercising is to maintain a healthy cardiovascular system. A proper diet, genetics, and cholesterol medication can help. But really, never discount the benefits of exercising. And it doesn't even have to be high impact either. Swimming is an excellent way to stay healthy.
Life is not for the lazy.
That would be a stretch. More like he wasn't completely wrong, in that epigenetics and methylation can be passed along to offspring.
Seems to me like "he wasn't completely wrong" is modern biologists bending over backwards for the guy. Epigenetics seems to resemble Lamarckianism only at the most high-level single-sentence overview of "traits acquired in life can be passed on".
Considering how Lamarckianism was supposed to be the primary driver of inherited traits, I'd say it's more like "his flirtations with reality were due to chance alone".
The enemies of Democracy are
Filler
and I'd bet that someone's found a transcription factor somewhere that binds to methylated DNA and ...
I believe there are inhibitor regions which will, when not methylated, attract some special-purpose snotball (yeah, I'm gonna call that a technical term) which interferes with transcription. And then when methylated, these inhibitor regions fail to interfere.
My other car is a 1984 Nark Avenger.
As far as I know, there is nothing specific you can eat that is proven to boost your metabolism.
Nonsense. A dose of something like, say, 2,4-Dinitrophenol will absolutely increase your metabolic rate. Quite dramatically, and potentially to the point of lethal hyperthermia. On a side note, given DNP's effect on muscular intracellular Ca++ levels, I suspect it could have a demethylating effect similar to that obtained with caffeine used.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21544-exercise-instantly-boosts-fatbusting-genes.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=health
Not exactly plain, nose-picker English, but I sorta get it: exercise is good for you.
"Weight is still determined by calories in and calories out."
Not true. Weight is determined by the insulin response triggered by an increase in blood sugar. Calories in/calories out is a good rough guide but Adkins adherents (and the previous low carb diets that have preceded it, starting with the Banting diet) have known for a long time that the endocrine system is the major player in weight gain/loss.
Gary Taubes has done a lot of tremendous writing in covering this topic.
Check this article out if you're interested for more.
Atkins dieters eat fewer calories and lose weight that way. Fat and protein make you feel full with fewer calories than carbs.
Drink lots of coffee before hopping on the treadmill and you'll wake up with super strength and the ability to climb walls. Make it a double espresso and you can also shoot sticky goo from your wrists.
It should be illegal to say that freedom of speech should be limited.
IIRC, (sadly I can't rmember where I read that) fit people do not actually live longer, but they die healthier. That may not sound like much, but if you ever saw the the difference between old and sick and old and healthy people, you might think it worth it.
"Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master."
Simply dieting and simply exercising; either one of these are known to fail a great deal of the time, in most people. The only way to be sure is to do both.
For example, dieting alone leads to metabolic drops and starvation responses which are hard to cope with.
Exercising alone most often results in various compensation behaviors.
Both together are untouchable.
Anyway, you calorie burn example is a bit flawed. You are presuming that the measured calorie expenditure of the 30 minute 8MPH run is all the calories that run will cause to be expended. This is emphatically not true; for example, that 30 minute run will cause calorie burns during that 8 hours sleep you mentioned to be quite a lot higher. Weight lifting is even better, as you could discern from TFA.
Hi - digging a bit deeper into this story -
1. Demethylation - removing methyl groups from DNA - generally activates genes.
2. In this case, the scientists are not 100% sure what demethylation of these genes means - it could mean they're being activated but they're not sure yet. More research required...
3. The observation that there are these sorts of epigenetic changes though in response to exercise is in itself really interesting. You do some exercise and within minutes you get changes to your DNA? That's pretty awesome.
4. The metabolic genes cited are not directly involved with metabolism - they're on various pathways involved in metabolism. So it's quite possible that what they're seeing is an uptick in genes linked to energy production.
As for the New Scientist article
"Now there is no excuse to avoid the gym: just one hour of exercise instantly changes your genes to boost the breakdown of fat."
There's no evidence of that at all. It may not have anything to do with 'fat' - they're genes involved in metabolism - I think that's all we know.
The Atkins diet is a low calorie diet. Even if it did have some effect on metabolism, it's still just increasing the calories out side of the equation.
Or you could read the many articles by people with actual relevant qualifications that are critical of Taubes and Atkins.
Or just be suspicious of any diet that says fruit is bad and vegetables are negotiable.