McMaster researchers may have found a way to restore metabolism to youth levels • Hacker News Board

Re: McMaster researchers may have found a way to restore metabolism to youth levels

#51

Post by ryanobjc » Thu, Dec 11, 2014, 10:15 PM UTC

tempestn wrote: post #37

I don't really understand the comments here, and especially on the article itself, deriding this research because "people should just get off their butts and exercise" or similar. I'm sure the researchers wouldn't dispute the benefits of exercise. But if there really is a safe, effective way to improve the metabolism and make it easier to keep off fat, why exactly is that a bad thing? (Naturally the research is far t…

You probably inherently understand that obesity is widely considered a moral disease.

Therefore, the only solution to a moral failing is trial by fire.

So, by recasting obesity as something OTHER than a moral failing, well you are removing the very thing that lets a portion of society feel superior to others.

And you can't do that.

Re: McMaster researchers may have found a way to restore metabolism to youth levels

#52

Post by AndrewKemendo » Thu, Dec 11, 2014, 10:16 PM UTC

nostromo wrote: post #6

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #2

Seems like we are trying to engineer a solution that is fundamentally a behavioral issue rather than mechanical. I do realize though that assuming we can reign in consumption socially is a non-starter at the same time though I think enabling high levels of consumption is the opposite of what we should be doing. That said, anything we can do to reverse aging I am all for, I just hope our consumption patterns can becom…

It's often not behavior changes that turn healthy 20 year olds into obese 50 year olds -- it's that behaviors stay the same while the body changes. If we can find a way to bring some of those perks of youth into older age, I think it's great.

You're exactly right on that because I am transitioning from young guy to old guy and can see it happen.

That doesn't mean my old eating habits were sustainable though forever. I think we need to be able to reduce our consumption if we aren't growing anymore.

Re: McMaster researchers may have found a way to restore metabolism to youth levels

#53

Post by jeltz » Thu, Dec 11, 2014, 10:17 PM UTC

tempestn wrote: post #37

I don't really understand the comments here, and especially on the article itself, deriding this research because "people should just get off their butts and exercise" or similar. I'm sure the researchers wouldn't dispute the benefits of exercise. But if there really is a safe, effective way to improve the metabolism and make it easier to keep off fat, why exactly is that a bad thing? (Naturally the research is far t…

To me it is because this just traps you into constantly using the drug instead of adapting to the fact that you have gotten older and should eat less.

Re: McMaster researchers may have found a way to restore metabolism to youth levels

#54

Post by crazypyro » Thu, Dec 11, 2014, 10:36 PM UTC

stevebmark wrote: post #46

crazypyro wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The type 1 diabetic in your first linked article was very recently diagnosed before the start of the experiment and a sample size of one on a brand new diagnosis doesn't seem highly significant to me. The article had some fishy elements to it that made me want to research the authors more... The researcher appears to have a rather huge monetary investment into the paleo-style diet/care, seeing as you can order clinic…

Are you saying you don't believe he went off insulin, and that his data was fabricated? You can also just look into the decades of research done on carbohydrates and diabetes http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0899900714...

I'm saying one should be aware of what I think are undisclosed ulterior motives, especially the monetary one. Furthermore, its easy to draw a conclusion from a sample size of one. I could just as easily find a sample size of one for who this diet would not cure T1D and start "exposing the myth" about paleo diets, but it would be shitty science...

Also I am skeptical of Paleo diets in general because historical scientific research hasn't been very favorable to all the supposed benefits supports of paleo like to throw out. For one, there is evidence[0] that it isn't even what our ancestors ate, so the whole concept of the cause of rising diabetes being the fact we "aren't eating paleo like our ancestors" is total crap, imo.

[0]http://www.pnas.org/content/110/26/10513.abstract

Re: McMaster researchers may have found a way to restore metabolism to youth levels

#55

Post by function_seven » Thu, Dec 11, 2014, 10:38 PM UTC

jeltz wrote: post #53

tempestn wrote: post #37

I don't really understand the comments here, and especially on the article itself, deriding this research because "people should just get off their butts and exercise" or similar. I'm sure the researchers wouldn't dispute the benefits of exercise. But if there really is a safe, effective way to improve the metabolism and make it easier to keep off fat, why exactly is that a bad thing? (Naturally the research is far t…

To me it is because this just traps you into constantly using the drug instead of adapting to the fact that you have gotten older and should eat less.

But what exactly about that situation makes it worse? Let's assume for a moment that a therapy exists that is funtionally identical to proper diet. It seems that each person could choose to weigh the costs of the drug vs. the increased enjoyment of eating whatever, or vs. the decreased time spent at a gym.

The way things work today, you're right. People "should eat less". It used to be that if you didn't want children, then you shouldn't have sex. Thankfully we have a wide variety of options that allow us to decouple sex from reproduction. I don't see why we shouldn't also have options to decouple eating from getting fat.

Re: McMaster researchers may have found a way to restore metabolism to youth levels

#56

Post by CamperBob2 » Thu, Dec 11, 2014, 10:48 PM UTC

ChuckMcM wrote: post #38

tempestn wrote: post #37

I don't really understand the comments here, and especially on the article itself, deriding this research because "people should just get off their butts and exercise" or similar. I'm sure the researchers wouldn't dispute the benefits of exercise. But if there really is a safe, effective way to improve the metabolism and make it easier to keep off fat, why exactly is that a bad thing? (Naturally the research is far t…

There are few topics that create as much controversial conversation. The well known ones are religion and politics, the third is 'diet/exercise.' Always a lot of energy.

Especially around here. Health-related posts bring out the same well-informed, scientifically literate opinions from the HN crowd that I'd expect when reading posts about C++ programming on webmd.com.

I really wish users could downvote stories.

Re: McMaster researchers may have found a way to restore metabolism to youth levels

#57

Post by srj55 » Thu, Dec 11, 2014, 10:57 PM UTC

nilved wrote: post #10

aculver wrote: post #5

Sorry to be off-topic, but I was drawn to the story because of the McMaster reference and I bet some other Hamiltonians probably will be to. Would love to connect with any HN folks in Hamilton!

Ditto. Email me@devlinzed.com if you want to hang out or work on something. I work at factor[e] on Locke.

small world. I'm a few hundred feet away on Chatham St.

Re: McMaster researchers may have found a way to restore metabolism to youth levels

#58

Post by joyeuse6701 » Thu, Dec 11, 2014, 11:33 PM UTC

JoshTriplett wrote: post #12

exelius wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That said, anything we can do to reverse aging I am all for, I just hope our consumption patterns can become less extreme. I disagree; aging and death are natural processes that could wreak havoc economically if significantly altered. Right now, the young have the ability to progress in the economy because older people eventually leave the workforce through retirement or death. People need to be able to die natural…

Feel free to die then. Don't condemn everyone else. Are you going to complain because life expectancies have already gone up by decades? "We need more resources because we cured death" is precisely the kind of problem we ought to have.

No need to be facetious, death need not be a condemnation, and there is value in awareness of consequence.

Re: McMaster researchers may have found a way to restore metabolism to youth levels

#59

Post by alexvar » Thu, Dec 11, 2014, 11:36 PM UTC

aculver wrote: post #5

Sorry to be off-topic, but I was drawn to the story because of the McMaster reference and I bet some other Hamiltonians probably will be to. Would love to connect with any HN folks in Hamilton!

Recent alumni here! I'm working in Toronto now but when I saw the Hammer mentioned on a post I just had to say something!

Re: McMaster researchers may have found a way to restore metabolism to youth levels

#60

Post by arasmussen » Thu, Dec 11, 2014, 11:39 PM UTC

jeltz wrote: post #53

tempestn wrote: post #37

I don't really understand the comments here, and especially on the article itself, deriding this research because "people should just get off their butts and exercise" or similar. I'm sure the researchers wouldn't dispute the benefits of exercise. But if there really is a safe, effective way to improve the metabolism and make it easier to keep off fat, why exactly is that a bad thing? (Naturally the research is far t…

To me it is because this just traps you into constantly using the drug instead of adapting to the fact that you have gotten older and should eat less.

"you have gotten older and should eat less" isn't a fact, it's an assumption baked into society's mind based on how aging has worked in the past. This breakthrough could break that assumption. In that case, some people (adopters) will internalize that and some people won't.