Nerves in Stomach desentized after weight loss

There is no end to the drivel you can dig up!

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-16/research-finds-key-to-why-dieters-ultimately-fail/4960536
A study has found Australians who eat a high fat diet may find it hard to lose weight as nerves that tell the brain the stomach is full could be permanently damaged.

Dieticians say the findings add to the evidence of the complexity of weight management and help explain why fad diets do not work.

Adelaide University PhD student Stephen Kentish investigated a high-fat diet's impact on the gut's ability to signal fullness.

He found the stomach becomes damaged in obese people but fails to return to normal once they have lost weight.


The research found the stomach nerves that signal fullness to the brain seem to become desensitised after a high-fat diet is consumed over a long period.

Associate Professor Amanda Page from the university's Nerve-Gut Research Laboratory says only about 5 per cent of the population actually manage to maintain weight loss after a diet.

"They in fact actually gain within two years plus some more," Associate Professor Page said.

"We've previously shown that nerves that detect fullness of the stomach are desensitised in obesity and in the current study we've shown that this desensitisation is maintained when we lose weight."

The nerves which detect the stomach has stretched do not tell the brain it is full as quickly.

As a result the person will eat more.

Sensitivity of the stomach never returns to normal

Associate Professor Page said the study also found the hormone leptin, which regulates food intake, can change the sensitivity of the stomach nerves that signal fullness.

"In lean individuals it will stop food intake, in obese individuals, that signal won't be present and then after we return to normal diet it only partially returns to normal."

The study involved two groups of mice.

One group was put on a low calorie diet of 7 per cent fat and the other on a high calorie diet of 60 per cent fat.

After 12 weeks the obese mice were put on a normal diet and although they initially lost weight they went on to increase their food intake to match the high fat diet.

Further studies will determine if the damage done to the nerves can be reversed.

"Does it occur after four weeks on a high fat diet? Does it occur after eight weeks?" Associate Professor Page said.

"And then we want to extend it out to see how long it takes, if at all, for it to be reversed."

Melanie McGrice from the Dieticians Association of Australia says there is already a lot of research that weight loss is not about fad diets and that it is a complex issue.

She says the research shows people need long-term behaviour changes and support to lose weight over time.

The study was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council and the results published in the International Journal of Obesity.



http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-13/ama-says-kitchen-skills-can-help-reduce-obesity/4883418
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) is urging people to learn to cook to curb the rate of obesity.



AMA president Steve Hambleton says busy lifestyles and living arrangements are leading many people to eat too much fast food.

"When you start looking for one-bedroom flats, there's not very much room in the kitchen, whereas our parents probably celebrated with friends coming over in that food preparation area," he said.

"It is a social change and we've got an ageing population, we've got an increasing burden of chronic disease and if we don't start right at the beginning, we're going to end up with a health system that's unaffordable."



http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-11/excercise-doesn27t-stop-obesity-new-report-finds/4813126
A new report from the United States shows that obesity rates are continuing to rise despite more Americans becoming more physically active.

Health experts say the key to reversing obesity trends has everything to do with food.

The study by the University of Washington looked at three million Americans over the past decade and found increasing levels of exercise reduced death, heart disease and diabetes but did not put a dent in obesity rates.

Professor Bruce Neal, from the George Institute for Global Health at Sydney University, says the problem is the same in Australia.

"We've seen physical activity go up, but obesity continues to rise. What this basically says is that the cause is diet," he said.

Professor Neal says even this can be hard to control.

"The reason people are eating badly is not because they have suddenly become sloths and gluttons, it's because they live in an environment where it is incredibly hard to eat well," he said.

"Vast amounts of food, fundamentally unhealthy, really large, really energy dense."

He says food is now responsible for most chronic diseases.

Some progress is being made in the US, according to Bill Dietz at the US Centre for Disease Control.

"There has been a reduction in the intake of sugar drinks and also in terms of fast food, pretty modest reductions," he said.

"But those decreases in caloric intake align quite nicely with changes in the food that is being marketed. Companies are seeing a greater increase in the sales of healthful products, as are restaurants."

Nutrition and obesity expert Ian Caterson says stopping obesity comes down to diet.

"Getting fit is important but to change the obesity, we've got to change what we eat," he said.

"And we have to make changes to the food supply - that's working with the food companies. They are very powerful, but we need to be persuasive to change it."

Professor Neal says the food industry needs tighter regulation.

"It's those sorts of things that are going to change the food environment and get on top of the obesity crisis that we have in the country," he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-11/excercise-doesn27t-stop-obesity-new-report-finds/4813126