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Study: Body Weight Heavily Influenced By Heritable Gut Microbes
FirephoxRising writes Our genetic makeup influences whether we are fat or thin by shaping which types of microbes thrive in our body, according to a new study. Scientists identified a specific, little known bacterial family that is highly heritable and more common in individuals with low body weight. So we are what we eat, and what we got from out parents. From the article: "The study, funded by National Institutes of Health (NIH), researchers sequenced the genes of microbes found in more than 1,000 fecal samples from 416 pairs of twins. The abundances of specific types of microbes were found to be more similar in identical twins, who share 100 per cent of their genes, than in non-identical twins, who share on average only half of the genes that vary between people. These findings demonstrate that genes influence the composition of gut microbes."
That's what is being done nowadays, counting calories.
The problem is that calorie consumption is not constant. It's more like household economy.
If you earn (eat) a lot every day, you will probably end up with a lot of savings (belly fat).
One way of getting rid of those savings (belly fat) is taking a lower paying job (dieting). The problem is that your savings don't magically dissappear, and you can make changes that allow you to keep your savings (fat), even with a lower income (daily calorie intake).
Another way you can get rid of your savings is just spending more daily (like exercise). The problem is that, if you have a good enough income (daily intake), and sizable savings, you will only lose capital (weight) in the long run, no sizable short term effect.
So, a fat person body works, in what respects to calories, like a financially savvy household. Going skinny would be like going broke. Some of us could benefit from a way to teach our bodies to do a bit worse in the calorie finance department. Could be a lot easier than just dieting, exercising or both.
Yeah. And first we must assume the human body is a frictionless sphere with uniform density in a vacuum.
How many studies have to come out showing that caloric intake is only one small factor of many in weight management, and by itself means hardly anything? You people are as bad as the climate change deniers and anti-vaxxers.
I know this is anecdotal, but to stave off any ad hominems: I eat enough calories to feed a small village every day and would be described as "thin" to "average". I know many other people like me, and I know many other people who hardly eat anything and still have weight problems.
Trying a "first law of thermodynamics" diet is just going to leave you malnourished. You may lose some weight, while starving your body of nutrients it actually needs, and possibly "reprogramming" it to get even fatter in the future any time you actually do feed yourself.
I always ask my wife (a dietitian) how many calories I release as waste.
All {calorie in minus calorie out} calculations completely ignore calories in your waste.
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
Food calorie content is commonly measured in a bomb calorimeter, using a energy-release process totally different from the human body, and in some cases giving very different values. For example, Olestra releases calories in a bomb calorimeter, but not in the body. Same with sawdust, or "microcrystalline cellulose" as the fast-food places call it.
I knew a guy that ate so few calories that he was malnutritioned. He also didn't lose weight. The less he ate, the more efficient his digestion and metabolism got. His energy levels dropped, reducing activity levels, and he maintained weight. "Eat less" is not always the answer. In fact, it's not even usually the answer. Anyone who says it is, is just proving they don't understand the question.
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