Fat and microbes

Oooh, I'm going to be linking to this one a lot, I think. (Have only read the first several paragraphs, will read the rest now... or tomorrow, when I get the paper version.)

Just finished it. Interesting!

I'll be interested to see any letters to the editor in response. Wash U used to have a quite a good med research rep..

If this does turn out to be true, I'm not sure it will be the positive thing for fat people that the author seems to be imagining. I think it could be early AIDS reactions writ large -- "get away from me, fat person, I don't want to catch your fat virus!!"

Which would be based on ignorance, of course. That's part of why I didn't quote.. there is a long explanation of the complexity of the flora that's just one element of the article.

Oh, of course. My point was not that it was true in any way, but that the author's assumption about how it would change perceptions of fat people may be an overly-rosy assumption.

I didn't think you thought that was true.. and I agree about the possible reaction.. that kind of reaction hadn't occurred to me before you mentioned it.

I look forward to the next article, this stuff is fascinating on several levels.

This one, among other things, reiterated for me the futility of dieting to lose weight, something you and I have talked about a lot. Exercise is far more reliable.

Another spare thought is the idea (which has come up here a few times in a "how do I lose weight?" context) that 3,500 calories = one pound is just way too simplistic. People's internal settings are all over the map. 3,500 calories may actually equal .25 pound to one person and 3 pounds to another.

Yes, and that was reiterated in this article too...

I completely agree that the human metabolism is a large and complicated subject.

So are the human psyche and the human mind both of which complicate the relationships between individuals and food.

Will power is not the complete answer to obesity.

All the same, in famine situations everyone eventually loses weight.

I just realized the flip side of Soz's "Eeeew! Take your piggy microbes away!"

Suppose innoculations of the fat cells were available in famine haunted countries?

Or for explorers on other planets where the supply lines from Earth would be long and tenuous.

Or for armed forces "living off the land" in inhospitable regions.

Both bumping and adding that I doubt you have to register at the NYT to read the article now, or at least you don't have to pay for it, as was required some time ago after the article was more than seven days old. The link still works for me.

Updating this thread with recent news item -

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6234K520100304
Could Germs be Making You Fat?

The government of Hong Kong recently issued a warning to its citizens against ingesting Ascaris worms for weight loss purposes. One of the latest diet crazes in the country, the practice of eating the giant intestinal roundworms has become so popular that the nation's Department of Health decided to make a public statement in opposition to it.

I remember those from Zoology 1A..
Eeeeeek!