A podcast on Obesity.

[George K]

I plan to listen to this in chunks - it's long, but sounds fascinating.

Link to video

0:00:00 - Intro
0:00:08 - Stephan’s neuroscience background and his focus on the nuances of obesity
0:07:17 - How obesity has changed for humans throughout history
0:14:45 - The association between obesity and adverse health outcomes, the “obesity paradox,” and confounders when relating BMI to longevity
0:25:49 - The sharp increase in obesity across demographics
0:33:52 - The hypothalamus and its role in obesity
0:45:32 - The role of the hormone leptin in obesity
0:53:24 - The genetic component of obesity
1:05:48 - Understanding the tendency of humans to store fat through an evolutionary lens
1:13:32 - The hedonic aspect of food, and how the brain reacts to modern, highly-rewarding foods
1:26:46 - How we are hard-wired to think about food
1:35:16 - A review of the “Carnivore diet”
1:50:06 - The energy balance model, carbohydrate-insulin model, and unifying the theories around adiposity
1:58:41 - Body weight set points: a hypothetical comparison of two individuals
2:07:26 - Takeaways for people who want to lose weight and keep it off
2:16:34 - Evidence that favors the energy balance model of weight gain
2:26:54 - The synergistic effect of fat and carbohydrates and observations that a low-fat diet or a low-carb diet can cause weight loss
2:34:46 - Red Pen Reviews

[jon-nyc]

Looks interesting.

[Doctor Phibes]

I’m going to try and listen to that on my way to work. The older I get, the more I’m left with the feeling that we (or I at least) don’t really understand this subject

[Klaus]

Has anyone actually listened to the podcast or are we going to discuss this based on the title only?

[Catseye3]

@Doctor-Phibes said in A podcast on Obesity.:

I’m going to try and listen to that on my way to work. The older I get, the more I’m left with the feeling that we (or I at least) don’t really understand this subject

I'm with you. To understand obesity, I am coming to believe that peoples' physiology differ one from the other, and much confounding takes place when we try for the one-size-fits-all approach. What works for me doesn't for you in many ways that are obscure and inscrutable, and so-called experts on the Net don't get this and just screw it up for everybody.

I'll look again to be sure I didn't miss it, but I'm disappointed that the effects of manmade products and additives on weight, particularly in the realm of hormones, aren't included above. I'm convinced they are significant, but I've been too lazy to become knowledgeable about it.

[89th]

I know they discuss the details, but isn’t the overall conclusion that we are a society built on convenience, which leads to junkier nutrition? Plus, now you can have a full meal by pressing a button on your phone and opening the front door. No work, no movement, no preparation, just consumption.

For 99% of people, just eating healthier and staying active will completely avoid obesity.

[taiwan_girl]

@89th said in A podcast on Obesity.:

For 99% of people, just eating healthier and staying active will completely avoid obesity.

I agree with you. Very real life cases is in Asia (like Taiwan), where obesity had increased alot in just a generation or two.

Obviously, people in these countries are able to eat more because they are richer, but they also eat more processed food, less activity's, etc

[jon-nyc]

@Klaus said in A podcast on Obesity.:

Has anyone actually listened to the podcast or are we going to discuss this based on the title only?

The latter, obviously.

[jon-nyc]

@Catseye3 said in A podcast on Obesity.:

I'll look again to be sure I didn't miss it, but I'm disappointed that the effects of manmade products and additives on weight, particularly in the realm of hormones, aren't included above. I'm convinced they are significant, but I've been too lazy to become knowledgeable about it.

Maybe processed foods generally. I think that mostly explains the inverse correlation of obesity rates and SES.

[George K]

@Klaus said in A podcast on Obesity.:

Has anyone actually listened to the podcast or are we going to discuss this based on the title only?

Not the whole thing, but parts of it.

The real tl;dr version is "We don't know what the hell is going on,"

They say that losing weight is (relatively) easy, and keeping it off is (really) hard, but we knew that.

There are so many theories, so many models. You can't blame it all, they say, on genetics, because, as a species, we have pretty much the same genes we had 100 years ago.

Others, like Jason Fung (Insulin resistance theory proponent) attribute it to diet, almost exclusively, pointing to the rise of obesity in China where a rice-heavy diet for centuries didn't lead to obesity. Now, it's endemic in China.

“Asians tend to eat rice, whereas Western societies tend to take their carbohydrate as refined wheat and corn products. It is also possible that changes in Western obesity rates are related to changes in the variety of wheat we are eating.”