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The Wrong Eating Habits Can Hurt Your Brain, Not Just Your Waistline

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Re: The Wrong Eating Habits Can Hurt Your Brain, Not Just Your Waistline

#21

Post by matwood »

treehau5 wrote: post #17
coldcode wrote: post #12

Assuming sugars and all saturated fats are both equally to blame is not in tune with modern research, though of course a lot of competing voices exist.

Saturated fat in itself is not the problem. Caloric excess in the form of saturated fat is. Athletes consume more saturated fat because it increases testosterone production ( https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9029197?dopt=Abstract ) A hamburger won't kill you. A hamburger if you live a sedentary lifestyle will.

Also, a single hamburger will not kill you. Eating 5 Guys for lunch every day is going to be a problem.

Re: The Wrong Eating Habits Can Hurt Your Brain, Not Just Your Waistline

#22

Post by ddlatham »

heptathorp wrote: post #9

I'm not seeing how this evidence points to overeating --> brain impairment. To me it implies brain impairment --> overeating. > He did that by studying rats that had very specific types of hippocampal damage and seeing what happened to them. This researcher started with mice that had damage, and observed they overate. This implies brain impairment --> overeating. The other memory studies in the article with obese or…

It doesn't directly imply that brain impairment causes overeating either. Perhaps something else is causing both. Causation is hard.

Re: The Wrong Eating Habits Can Hurt Your Brain, Not Just Your Waistline

#23

Post by leetrout »

ddlatham wrote: post #22
heptathorp wrote: post #9

I'm not seeing how this evidence points to overeating --> brain impairment. To me it implies brain impairment --> overeating. > He did that by studying rats that had very specific types of hippocampal damage and seeing what happened to them. This researcher started with mice that had damage, and observed they overate. This implies brain impairment --> overeating. The other memory studies in the article with obese or…

It doesn't directly imply that brain impairment causes overeating either. Perhaps something else is causing both. Causation is hard.

That's true- and on that note I wonder if it's the gut in general and it's all related in a cycle. (Given the compounding evidence your gut directly affects your brain.)

From http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/healthy_aging/healthy_...: "For decades, researchers and doctors thought that anxiety and depression contributed to these problems. But our studies and others show that it may also be the other way around," Pasricha says.

Re: The Wrong Eating Habits Can Hurt Your Brain, Not Just Your Waistline

#24

Post by hx87 »

emodendroket wrote: post #19
mi100hael wrote: post #16

> He says something similar may happen in human brains when people eat a diet high in fat and sugar. Davidson says there's a vicious cycle of bad diets and brain changes. He points to a 2015 study in the Journal of Pediatrics that found obese children performed more poorly on memory tasks that test the hippocampus compared with kids who weren't overweight. These assertions raise doubts in my mind regarding the study…

> The further implication that a particular macronutrient ratio could cause obesity is particularly concerning. Weight gain/loss is determined strictly by whether someone consumes more or fewer calories than their body burns in a day. The ratio of macronutrients may effect other health indicators like lean body mass, but a diet of 100% sugar and fat will still lead to weight loss if the total caloric intake is lower…

Fats are pretty damn filling, even when caloric density is accounted for, at least for me.

Re: The Wrong Eating Habits Can Hurt Your Brain, Not Just Your Waistline

#25

Post by bitwize »

mi100hael wrote: post #16

> He says something similar may happen in human brains when people eat a diet high in fat and sugar. Davidson says there's a vicious cycle of bad diets and brain changes. He points to a 2015 study in the Journal of Pediatrics that found obese children performed more poorly on memory tasks that test the hippocampus compared with kids who weren't overweight. These assertions raise doubts in my mind regarding the study…

This is the "a calorie is a calorie is a calorie" argument, and it's not true. Sugar upsets the metabolic process in disconcerting ways, leading to fat accumulation and insulin resistance; sugar is also more addictive than cocaine[0]. Meaning that when you consume calories from sugar, you crave more sugar calories. The foods you eat do make a difference in how fat you get, because they alter your metabolism and behavior -- but Western foods are so loaded with added sugar that sugar becomes difficult to control for.

[0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23719144

Re: The Wrong Eating Habits Can Hurt Your Brain, Not Just Your Waistline

#26

Post by emodendroket »

hx87 wrote: post #24
emodendroket wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The further implication that a particular macronutrient ratio could cause obesity is particularly concerning. Weight gain/loss is determined strictly by whether someone consumes more or fewer calories than their body burns in a day. The ratio of macronutrients may effect other health indicators like lean body mass, but a diet of 100% sugar and fat will still lead to weight loss if the total caloric intake is lower…

Fats are pretty damn filling, even when caloric density is accounted for, at least for me.

Well I think that's a big part of why the focus lately is moving to sugars over fats. But the other point is that they're not very rich in nutrients.

Re: The Wrong Eating Habits Can Hurt Your Brain, Not Just Your Waistline

#27

Post by leetrout »

coldcode wrote: post #12

Assuming sugars and all saturated fats are both equally to blame is not in tune with modern research, though of course a lot of competing voices exist.

This stood out to me, as well. I don't think everyone fits the mold that any one macro group is good or bad because I think it depends on our gut bacteria (which is potentially as unique as a fingerprint[0]).

I don't deny calories in > calories burnt leads to weight gain but to put it that simply does a disservice to educating people about their bodies and completely ignores the hormones controlling fat storage. "researchers at the National Institutes of Health have shown how insulin prompts fat cells to take in glucose in a rat model". [1]

So does calories in being higher than calories burnt lead to weight gain? Sure. That's thermodynamics. But what about lots of carbs in the diet (even paired with fats) and how that causes a higher insulin response and that then causes easier / more fat storage. I think the research here is clear and compelling. Of course, some people, due to their guts just may not process food the same way and may break it down more completely or be less sensitive to carbs in general.

"In general, the gut microbiota found in obese youth tended to be more efficient at converting carbohydrates to fat compared to the gut flora of normal-weight individuals. This suggests that even with similar caloric intake, obese youth are accumulating more fat compared to lean youth as a result of the composition of their gut microbiota." [1]

[0] https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/personal-mi...

[1] https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-study-show...

[2] http://www.livescience.com/56179-gut-bacteria-differ-in-obes...

Re: The Wrong Eating Habits Can Hurt Your Brain, Not Just Your Waistline

#28

Post by another_account »

bitwize wrote: post #25
mi100hael wrote: post #16

> He says something similar may happen in human brains when people eat a diet high in fat and sugar. Davidson says there's a vicious cycle of bad diets and brain changes. He points to a 2015 study in the Journal of Pediatrics that found obese children performed more poorly on memory tasks that test the hippocampus compared with kids who weren't overweight. These assertions raise doubts in my mind regarding the study…

This is the "a calorie is a calorie is a calorie" argument, and it's not true. Sugar upsets the metabolic process in disconcerting ways, leading to fat accumulation and insulin resistance; sugar is also more addictive than cocaine[0]. Meaning that when you consume calories from sugar, you crave more sugar calories. The foods you eat do make a difference in how fat you get, because they alter your metabolism and behav…

Yes, macro break down, thyroid issues, metabolism, illness, meal timing, GI, insulin spikes, hormone levels etc do make a difference. To grab at a generous figure lets say they make up 25% of the puzzle. With calories in VS calories out been 75%. And i think that 25% is very, very generous.

Stating calories in VS calories out is not true because of X, Y or Z is like building a house by starting with the doorbell. Before you lay the foundations. Fundamentals before details.

Re: The Wrong Eating Habits Can Hurt Your Brain, Not Just Your Waistline

#30

Post by kolinko »

charlieflowers wrote: post #5

I don't buy that they "forgot they were full" because of diminished short term memory. When people overeat, I do not buy that it is because they actually forgot that they already ate. Some other brain effect could make sense, but this one seems weak.

IIRC around 20-30% obese people have ADHD, and they use food as a form of self-medication when their dopamine levels get low.

Unfortunately it's not screened for in obese people, so most of them never get tested :(

Myself, once I began meds, the need to eat constantly evaporated. The first month I felt no hunger whatsoever (I guess there was no dopamine deficiency any more, and regular hunger systems still haven't kicked in), and after that time my hunger got to normal levels - meaning, the weight stabilised, and now I eat only when truly hungry.

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