Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

nature.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

561–570 of 1001 posts

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#561

Post by Invictus0 »

rootusrootus wrote: post #537
beloch wrote: post #316

Thought experiment: A drug* that reduces people's weight and massively boosts physical fitness with no negative side effects is discovered. The discoverer of that drug declines to patent it, making it a cheap generic available everywhere. What would your reaction be? Take a moment to consider what your reaction is before continuing. ... The comments I'm reading here are diverse and fascinating. Weight loss, diet, and…

> discipline and hard work (or genetic luck) Let me tell you, the number of thin people I've met who got there through discipline and hard work is vanishingly small compared to those genetically blessed. This is probably why it's such an appealing delusion -- who doesn't want the world to think they're disciplined and hardworking, instead of just lucky?

I don't think it's so malicious as you make it out: being thin seems like the default option, because that's how it was for most of human history and because you can't become fat without lifting the fork yourself and putting the food in your mouth. That obesity could be a disease questions our notions of free-will and the cascading questions that come along with that are quite uncomfortable.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#562

Post by pixl97 »

SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #545
pixl97 wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So before mass capitalism people didn't drink? Can I ask that you read a large number of history books across any number of cultures on addictive behaviors throughout history, because you'll find that anytime a society had an excess of time and labor/production that people find addictive behaviors to enjoy. This is not recent. This is not capitalism. This is humanity. What capitalism has done is given everybody enoug…

Aren't there claims commonly made (I haven't reviewed the literature to know if it's compelling or not) that the medieval serf worked less than the modern worker?

I've read a number of studies like this and at the end of the day everyone ends up at apples != oranges.

If you wanted to live with the same amount of 'lifestyle' as a serf did then you'd likely only have to work a few hours a week. The issue is I don't think most people want to live that lifestyle. We like clean water to drink. We like sheltered houses with electricity. We love having a house that is too large and filling it up with an inordinate amount of crap. We love living in expensive places with a lot to do. Turns out wanting all that requires a lot of stuff.

At one point in my life I was more interesting in not working and messing around and doing other things. I worked around 40 hours a month for a few years and made enough of a living to pay my bills (hey, computer work pays good). So it's not impossible for at least some people to live like that , though with rent increases not sure if it's possible these days. But with all that said, I like having all the stuff that working a full time job gives to me, so there is that.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#564

Post by joe_the_user »

bioemerl wrote: post #182

> In the past, scientists and the public often thought that those with obesity simply lacked the willpower to lose weight. But evidence is growing that most people’s bodies have a natural size that can be hard to change. In the context where we have gone from obesity rates of 13 percent to 40, to suggest that people have a natural weight and that's the cause of this seems absurd to me.

Obesity has increased uniformly across the US and much of the world. But in the US is fairly strongly, negatively correlated with income. And the obvious culprit here is thus processed and cheap food. Now, exactly how that manifests is probably quite complex. I see everyone offering their pet theory and that tends to muddy the waters but the basic outline seems reasonably clear.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#565

Post by gardenhedge »

0xB31B1B wrote: post #86
sfusato wrote: post #79

> I believe that everyone, even the skinny folks, should be on GLP1 drugs for the longevity effects. Are you for real? Serious question.

I mean, if you have perfect bloodwork and a marvel movie body probably not necessary but otherwise yes. Heart disease, hypertension, high cholesterol, colon cancer rates are rising amongst everyone, even thin people. These drugs positively impact indicators of these things in everyone. Longevity makers have been betting on metformin for a long time and these drugs are like a supercharged metformin

A marvel movie body is made through injecting steorids.. not living healthily.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#566

Post by adamrezich »

jfk13 wrote: post #553
0xB31B1B wrote: post #21

I’m currently taking one of these drugs and it has been no less than a miracle in my life. I became obese when I was around 5, topping out around a 34 BMI. When I was 20 I lost a substantial amount of weight the old fashioned way (diet and exercise), and within 8 months I was BMI 23. Losing weight was extremely challenging and socially isolating. 7 years later, I had a bad ankle injury and regained weight to about 29…

> everyone, even the skinny folks, should be on GLP1 drugs Seriously? No thanks. Think I'll give you all a few decades to see what the long-term effects are like, and let my body largely take care of itself except when specific medical issues indicate that an intervention is in order.

it's always really strange to me whenever someone enthusiastically advocates that others use experimental drugs whose long-term side effects have not yet been discovered. if you want to try em yourself then go for it I guess, but I'm good thanks.

it's interesting to take a step back and realize just how much pharmaceutical corporations have got average people to think it's perfectly normal to try putting random chemical compositions into their bodies and see what happens. maybe nothing will happen. maybe you'll get some mild nausea. maybe you'll suddenly develop an urge to kill yourself. but just try it and see what happens! ask your doctor if it's right for you (and if they get any kickbacks from it).

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#567

Post by JamesBarney »

joe_the_user wrote: post #564
bioemerl wrote: post #182

> In the past, scientists and the public often thought that those with obesity simply lacked the willpower to lose weight. But evidence is growing that most people’s bodies have a natural size that can be hard to change. In the context where we have gone from obesity rates of 13 percent to 40, to suggest that people have a natural weight and that's the cause of this seems absurd to me.

Obesity has increased uniformly across the US and much of the world. But in the US is fairly strongly, negatively correlated with income. And the obvious culprit here is thus processed and cheap food. Now, exactly how that manifests is probably quite complex. I see everyone offering their pet theory and that tends to muddy the waters but the basic outline seems reasonably clear.

https://www.prb.org/resources/for-women-in-the-u-s-obesity-l....

That correlation with income is almost entirely driven by women.

Rich men aren't much thinner than middle class or poor men.

Rich women are just a lot thinner than middle class or poor women.

This tells a different story than cheap processed food.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#568

Post by gardenhedge »

MajimasEyepatch wrote: post #333
halfmatthalfcat wrote: post #291

[flagged]

This is a ridiculous comment. Statistically, there is no weight loss strategy that has been found to work long term at the population level except for bariatric surgery (and now, apparently, these drugs, but we'll see how things look in a few years). Sure, one individual person can pull it off with enough willpower and support and luck. But at a population level, we know definitively that "grind it out with exercise,…

Eating less and exercising works for literally everyone who isn't an edge case.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#569

Post by tyleo »

0xB31B1B wrote: post #555
tyleo wrote: post #479

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Losing weight was extremely challenging and socially isolating. How was it socially isolating? I’m curious because I exercise and diet and this is not my experience. I understand it being challenging though.

Eating food and drinking alcohol is a core part of most social activities. When you're losing weight, you can't really fuck up, you really need to stick to your diet. I found it difficult to maintain my diet in social settings (going to a friends party, eating at a restaurant with friends, going to a bar to celebrate something, etc) so I just stopped doing all of those things for 8 months. Like, if you're trying to q…

Thanks for the answer. In my own experience I went from eating out every day at work to packing a lunch and eating in the cafeteria. It didn’t mean less socialization at lunch but I did start eating with different people and I realize that is hard or not even an option for some. I set a rule for myself to only eat out once a week and that did the trick.

I also stopped going to a weekly bar event with friends and honestly haven’t talked to them nearly as much since then. Similar to eating out though I eventually replaced that with a watch party/game night/discussion club with a different new group of friends. Those events have drinks but not really as a focus.

I didn’t make all of these changes simultaneously though which reduced some of the challenge. None of it is easy though and I still feel bad for not keeping in touch with some folks I was previously close to.

Post reply on HN