Alison Motluk and Linda Geddes Centre for Diabetes and Metabolic Medicine at Barts and The London One of the root causes of type 1 diabetes may need rethinking – the condition may be triggered by faulty nerves in the pancreas, a new study reveals. Type 1 diabetes has long been described as an autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system targets islet cells in the pancreas, eventually destroying their ability to produce insulin. Without insulin, the body cannot convert glucose into energy, so people with type 1 diabetes have to regularly inject themselves with insulin to survive. However, what initiates the original attack on the pancreas had been unclear. It now seems that the nervous system may play a key role, according to researchers in Toronto, Canada. The team eliminated the disease in diabetes-prone mice by knocking out a set of faulty sensory nerves. They believe the finding could chart a new path in treatment of the disease in humans. Michael Dosch at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, and colleagues, had previously shown that not only islet cells, but the nerve tissue around them was affected as diabetes set in. For this reason, they suspected that certain sensory nerves of the pancreas might be involved. These nerves release a neuropeptide called "substance P" and are usually responsible for ensuring that islet cells produce the right amount of insulin. © Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.
Posted: 12.16.2006

By ABBY ELLIN ASK Sheana Director for a detailed description of herself, and chances are the word fat will come up. It is not uttered with shame or ire or any sense of embarrassment; it’s simply one of the things she is, fat. “Why should I be ashamed?” said Ms. Director, 22, a graduate student in women’s studies at San Diego State University, who wields the word with both defiance and pride, the way the gay community uses queer. “I’m fat. So what?” During her sophomore year at Smith College, Ms. Director attended a discussion on fat discrimination: the way the super-sized are marginalized, the way excessive girth is seen as a moral failing rather than the result of complicated factors. But the academic community, she felt, didn’t really give the topic proper consideration. She decided to do something about it. In December 2004, she helped found the organization Size Matters, whose goal was to promote size acceptance and positive body image. In April, the group sponsored a conference called Fat and the Academy, a three-day event at Smith of panel discussions and performances by academics, researchers, activists and artists. Nearly 150 people attended. Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company
Posted: 11.27.2006

By Rob Stein A component of red wine recently shown to help lab mice live longer also protects animals from obesity and diabetes and boosts their physical endurance, researchers reported yesterday. The new research helps confirm and extend the possible benefits of the substance, resveratrol, and offers new insight into how it works -- apparently by revving up the metabolism to make muscles burn more energy and work more efficiently. Mice fed large doses could run twice as far as they would normally. In addition, the scientists for the first time produced evidence linking the biological pathway activated by the substance to human physiology, showing that the same genetic switch resveratrol mimics seems to naturally endow some people with faster metabolisms. "It's very exciting," said Johan Auwerx, a professor of medicine at the Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology in Strasbourg, France, who led the research being published online and in the Dec. 15 issue of the journal Cell. "This compound could have many applications -- treating obesity and diabetes, improving human endurance, helping the frail. There's a lot of potential." Auwerx and other researchers cautioned much more research is needed to study the compound and similar agents, especially to see if the approach is safe for people. Humans would have to take hundreds of resveratrol pills sold in health food stores or drink hundreds of glasses of wine a day to get equivalent levels of the substance tested on the mice, neither of which would be safe. But the new research adds to the growing enthusiasm about the approach, experts said. © 2006 The Washington Post Company
Posted: 11.17.2006

Scientists have worked out which parent to blame if you are unhappy with your weight or height. Fathers appear to determine the height of their child while mothers tend to influence how much body fat they will have, a study suggests. The work is ongoing, but researchers from the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital say the initial results are clear - taller dads make longer babies. How fat the father is does not seem to influence a child's fatness, however. In contrast, whether the mother is fat or not has a major effect on the birth weight of the baby, the team found. This is likely to be down to the environment in the womb - with overweight mums tending to have higher levels of sugar in their blood. Research midwife Dr Beatrice Knight stressed both genetic and environmental factors influence in a child's growth. The early growth of the baby, both in the womb and in the first few years of life, may be crucial for the development of their health in later life, she said. By identifying the genes involved in this early growth, she hopes to develop a better understanding of how these things are linked. They have been studying about 1,000 families, measuring the weight and height of the mums, dads and their babies in their first two years of life. Dr Knight said: "Obviously one of the biggest influences on a baby's growth is the size of the mother. But we have confirmed that a father's height also has a direct impact on their baby's growth, with taller dads having longer and heavier babies." (C)BBC
Posted: 11.17.2006

Michael Hill, Associated Press — Think much about that popcorn while you're eating it? Or that plate of pasta? That bowl of soup? Probably not. But Cornell University marketing professor Brian Wansink does. A lot. Wansink isn't concerned about the food, exactly, but why you eat it. His goal is to uncover hidden cues that influence how much we eat. He wants to know if people grab more M&M's from a bowl if there are more colors (yes), if people tend to eat less popcorn at comic films like "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" than during gloomy films (yes) and whether people are tuned into the subtle prompts like mood and setting that affect their eating (generally, no). After years of sometimes unorthodox research, Wansink argues that a good way to lose weight is not by obsessing over carbs or banning trans fats, but by addressing dietary "hidden persuaders." He lays out the case in his new book, "Mindless Eating, Why We Eat More than We Think We Eat." "So much of the answer lies not in counting calories, not in legislating, but in the middle range of what we can do by changing some of our own habits," Wansink said during an interview in his Food and Brand Lab on Cornell's upstate New York campus. © 2006 Discovery Communications Inc.
Posted: 11.07.2006

Helen Carter, ABC Science Online —Young women obsessed with their own body image eat more food after looking at magazine advertisements that feature the "ideal" thin body, research shows. But those with a healthier body image, who you might expect to be less influenced by the ads, eat less. The Australian study shows that adising affects eating behavior, just not necessarily the way we think. The researchers publish their study in the November issue of the journal Eating Behaviors. Fiona Monro, a PhD student at the University of New South Wales, explained the results. "We would expect people who value the way they look would be reminded by viewing the image and not eat," she said. "We're not sure why we found the reverse but possibly because of stress....[Women obsessed with their appearance] see the idealized image and think about their own body so turn to food. "They might think 'what's the point, I'm never going to look like that, I may as well eat' or the image makes them think they're thinner than they are so they eat more," said Monro. © 2006 Discovery Communications Inc.
Posted: 11.04.2006