The economy is in the toilet - so people are eating “out” less often - and eating “in” more often (note the relatively strong earnings performance of value-food brands such as Kraft and Campbell’s). If you’re a casual-dining restaurant, you might be jumping on the “all you can eat” bandwagon to get customers in the door.
Red Lobster has an “Endless Shrimp” promo for $15.99 and Olive Garden has a “Never Ending Pasta Bowl” for $8.95.
Applebee’s has its “Endless Favorites” deal where you can spend $9.99 and gorge yourself on unlimited BBQ riblets, chicken fingers, and fried shrimp.
Chili’s has their “Bottomless Express Lunch” which gives you unlimited refills of soup, salad, and chips for $5.99.
The restaurants promote these deals because they get customers to order the “all you can eat” special - but then they also order drinks and side dishes - which boosts both the total check size (good for the restaurant) and the total calorie content (bad for the customer’s waistline).
On the opposite end of the restaurant-menu spectrum are the fast food joints that are rushing (or being forced in California and NYC) to put calorie information on their menu boards. Yum Brands (owner of KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut) has pledged to start listing calorie info for its products starting this year and in all of its 17,000 U.S. outlets by the end of 2011.
At the fast food restaurants, the hope is that a customer might be less likely to order 2,000 calories worth of hamburgers, french fries, and soda (and instead order something healthier) if they are simply given the information so they know how many calories each food item contains.
On the other hand - the “all-you-can-eaters” at the casual dining restaurants might not particularly care about their huge calorie intakes - just so long as they can save a buck on lunch (which they’ll likely spend later on their diabetes and cholesterol medications and on their larger-size Levi’s).
I know how that last comment sounds - but c’mon - let’s wake up.
Thanks for reading,
Shawn Talbott, Ph.D.
I also blog on a daily basis at:
www.ShawnTalbott.com (about various health and wellness topics)
www.SupplementWatch.com (about the pros and cons of dietary supplements)
www.GetUpSlimDown.com (about weight loss, metabolism, and feeling better)
www.WisdomofBalance.com (about traditional Asian medicine, or TAM)
www.WickedFastSportsNutrition.com (about nutrition for endurance athletes)
www.MetabolismCoach.com (about metabolism, nutrition, exercise, and energy)
www.ObesityMovie.com (about the causes of and solutions to the obesity epidemic)
Friday, October 3, 2008
Our Fat Future?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the obesity epidemic in the United States if only expected to get worse. Right now, our obesity rates look like this:
Normal = 38%
Overweight = 28%
Obese = 34%
But, by the year 2030, the population is expected to look like this:
Normal = 10%
Overweight = 37%
Obese = 53%
Can you imagine it? With 90% of our adult population overweight or obese by 2030, the accompanying healthcare expenditures for obesity-related diseases like diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease, and certain cancers will be staggering.
You may be asking yourself, “Just who is considered overweight, anyway?” - so consider that a woman who is 5’4“ tall would be considered overweight at about 145lbs and obese at about 174lbs.
Something to think about...and while you’re thinking, take a look at Killer at Large at www.KilleratLarge.com or www.ObesityMovie.com (if you really want something to think about).
Thanks for reading,
Shawn Talbott, PhD
I also blog on a daily basis at:
www.ShawnTalbott.com (about various health and wellness topics)
www.SupplementWatch.com (about the pros and cons of dietary supplements)
www.GetUpSlimDown.com (about weight loss, metabolism, and feeling better)
www.WisdomofBalance.com (about traditional Asian medicine, or TAM)
www.WickedFastSportsNutrition.com (about nutrition for endurance athletes)
www.MetabolismCoach.com (about metabolism, nutrition, exercise, and energy)
Normal = 38%
Overweight = 28%
Obese = 34%
But, by the year 2030, the population is expected to look like this:
Normal = 10%
Overweight = 37%
Obese = 53%
Can you imagine it? With 90% of our adult population overweight or obese by 2030, the accompanying healthcare expenditures for obesity-related diseases like diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease, and certain cancers will be staggering.
You may be asking yourself, “Just who is considered overweight, anyway?” - so consider that a woman who is 5’4“ tall would be considered overweight at about 145lbs and obese at about 174lbs.
Something to think about...and while you’re thinking, take a look at Killer at Large at www.KilleratLarge.com or www.ObesityMovie.com (if you really want something to think about).
Thanks for reading,
Shawn Talbott, PhD
I also blog on a daily basis at:
www.ShawnTalbott.com (about various health and wellness topics)
www.SupplementWatch.com (about the pros and cons of dietary supplements)
www.GetUpSlimDown.com (about weight loss, metabolism, and feeling better)
www.WisdomofBalance.com (about traditional Asian medicine, or TAM)
www.WickedFastSportsNutrition.com (about nutrition for endurance athletes)
www.MetabolismCoach.com (about metabolism, nutrition, exercise, and energy)
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Exercise in a Pill?
Too good to be true, right?
Right - but this new research (in mice) is still pretty cool.
In the research journal “Cell” (Volume 134, Issue 3, 8 August 2008, Pages 405-415) - the abstract appears below, scientists were able to mimic SOME of the effects of exercise training in different groups of mice.
Even though the research was done more than a year ago, the publication in Cell at the end of July (2008) generated a storm of media coverage with headlines like “Sit back to get in shape” and “Couch potatoes rejoice - pills do the work of exercise” - Hey, whatever sells magazines and newspapers...
Even though the effects described in mice are somewhat limited (more on that below), the results provide tantalizing evidence that it may be possible to use drugs to improve the ability of muscle cells to burn fat, extend endurance, and maintain muscle mass - whether you exercise or not.
Drug companies are certainly interested...imagine being able to take a pill someday that reduced obesity or protected you from diabetes or treated muscle-wasting diseases like muscular dystrophy. Both GlaxoSmithKilne and Schering-Plough have been involved in research on the 2 drug compounds used in the recent mouse studies (AICAR, which is an AMPK agonist and “GW1516”, which is a PPAR-delta agonost). Schering has recently licensed AICAR (also known as acadesine), but GW1516 was dropped by Glaxo because of toxic side effects in humans.
When given to mice, GW1516 enabled mice to run for about 3 hours until exhaustion (compared to their normal 2 hours in untreated control mice) - but it only worked in “training” mice (who were regularly exercising) - and NOT in sedentary mice. AICAR, on the other hand, improved running endurance in mice whether or not they were training - so the couch potato mice were able to run as if they were well-trained.
The underlying metabolic effect of these drugs appears to be an improvement in the ability of slow-twitch muscle cells to burn fat - and effect that improved endurance in these studies, but may also help to treat obesity (but which remains to be investigated).
Certainly, we need to view these results within their proper context - these are mice being given experimental drugs - and the effects observed here may not translate at all to humans. The best that human endurance athletes can currently do to improve endurance performance is to supplement with cordyceps, rhodiola, and eurycoma to improve oxygen utilization. Carnitine and adenosine can also be beneficial for fat burning, but they need to be taken at such high doses for effectiveness that they rapidly become prohibitively expensive.
Thanks for reading (and check out the original abstract below),
Shawn Talbott, PhD
I also blog on a daily basis at:
www.ShawnTalbott.com (about various health and wellness topics)
www.SupplementWatch.com (about the pros and cons of dietary supplements)
www.GetUpSlimDown.com (about weight loss, metabolism, and feeling better)
www.WisdomofBalance.com (about traditional Asian medicine, or TAM)
www.WickedFastSportsNutrition.com (about nutrition for endurance athletes)
www.MetabolismCoach.com (about metabolism, nutrition, exercise, and energy)
AMPK and PPARδ Agonists Are Exercise Mimetics
Vihang A. Narkar1, Michael Downes1, Ruth T. Yu1, Emi Embler1, Yong-Xu Wang4, Ester Banayo3, Maria M. Mihaylova2, Michael C. Nelson1, Yuhua Zou1, Henry Juguilon1, Heonjoong Kang5, Reuben J. Shaw2 and Ronald M. Evans1, 3,
1Gene Expression Laboratory, Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA 2Molecular and Cell Biology Laboratory, Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA 3Howard Hughes Medical Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA 4University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01605, USA 5Marine Biotechnology Laboratory, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-747, South Korea
Summary
The benefits of endurance exercise on general health make it desirable to identify orally active agents that would mimic or potentiate the effects of exercise to treat metabolic diseases. Although certain natural compounds, such as reseveratrol, have endurance-enhancing activities, their exact metabolic targets remain elusive. We therefore tested the effect of pathway-specific drugs on endurance capacities of mice in a treadmill running test. We found that PPARβ/δ agonist and exercise training synergistically increase oxidative myofibers and running endurance in adult mice. Because training activates AMPK and PGC1α, we then tested whether the orally active AMPK agonist AICAR might be sufficient to overcome the exercise requirement. Unexpectedly, even in sedentary mice, 4 weeks of AICAR treatment alone induced metabolic genes and enhanced running endurance by 44%. These results demonstrate that AMPK-PPARδ pathway can be targeted by orally active drugs to enhance training adaptation or even to increase endurance without exercise.
Right - but this new research (in mice) is still pretty cool.
In the research journal “Cell” (Volume 134, Issue 3, 8 August 2008, Pages 405-415) - the abstract appears below, scientists were able to mimic SOME of the effects of exercise training in different groups of mice.
Even though the research was done more than a year ago, the publication in Cell at the end of July (2008) generated a storm of media coverage with headlines like “Sit back to get in shape” and “Couch potatoes rejoice - pills do the work of exercise” - Hey, whatever sells magazines and newspapers...
Even though the effects described in mice are somewhat limited (more on that below), the results provide tantalizing evidence that it may be possible to use drugs to improve the ability of muscle cells to burn fat, extend endurance, and maintain muscle mass - whether you exercise or not.
Drug companies are certainly interested...imagine being able to take a pill someday that reduced obesity or protected you from diabetes or treated muscle-wasting diseases like muscular dystrophy. Both GlaxoSmithKilne and Schering-Plough have been involved in research on the 2 drug compounds used in the recent mouse studies (AICAR, which is an AMPK agonist and “GW1516”, which is a PPAR-delta agonost). Schering has recently licensed AICAR (also known as acadesine), but GW1516 was dropped by Glaxo because of toxic side effects in humans.
When given to mice, GW1516 enabled mice to run for about 3 hours until exhaustion (compared to their normal 2 hours in untreated control mice) - but it only worked in “training” mice (who were regularly exercising) - and NOT in sedentary mice. AICAR, on the other hand, improved running endurance in mice whether or not they were training - so the couch potato mice were able to run as if they were well-trained.
The underlying metabolic effect of these drugs appears to be an improvement in the ability of slow-twitch muscle cells to burn fat - and effect that improved endurance in these studies, but may also help to treat obesity (but which remains to be investigated).
Certainly, we need to view these results within their proper context - these are mice being given experimental drugs - and the effects observed here may not translate at all to humans. The best that human endurance athletes can currently do to improve endurance performance is to supplement with cordyceps, rhodiola, and eurycoma to improve oxygen utilization. Carnitine and adenosine can also be beneficial for fat burning, but they need to be taken at such high doses for effectiveness that they rapidly become prohibitively expensive.
Thanks for reading (and check out the original abstract below),
Shawn Talbott, PhD
I also blog on a daily basis at:
www.ShawnTalbott.com (about various health and wellness topics)
www.SupplementWatch.com (about the pros and cons of dietary supplements)
www.GetUpSlimDown.com (about weight loss, metabolism, and feeling better)
www.WisdomofBalance.com (about traditional Asian medicine, or TAM)
www.WickedFastSportsNutrition.com (about nutrition for endurance athletes)
www.MetabolismCoach.com (about metabolism, nutrition, exercise, and energy)
AMPK and PPARδ Agonists Are Exercise Mimetics
Vihang A. Narkar1, Michael Downes1, Ruth T. Yu1, Emi Embler1, Yong-Xu Wang4, Ester Banayo3, Maria M. Mihaylova2, Michael C. Nelson1, Yuhua Zou1, Henry Juguilon1, Heonjoong Kang5, Reuben J. Shaw2 and Ronald M. Evans1, 3,
1Gene Expression Laboratory, Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA 2Molecular and Cell Biology Laboratory, Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA 3Howard Hughes Medical Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA 4University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01605, USA 5Marine Biotechnology Laboratory, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-747, South Korea
Summary
The benefits of endurance exercise on general health make it desirable to identify orally active agents that would mimic or potentiate the effects of exercise to treat metabolic diseases. Although certain natural compounds, such as reseveratrol, have endurance-enhancing activities, their exact metabolic targets remain elusive. We therefore tested the effect of pathway-specific drugs on endurance capacities of mice in a treadmill running test. We found that PPARβ/δ agonist and exercise training synergistically increase oxidative myofibers and running endurance in adult mice. Because training activates AMPK and PGC1α, we then tested whether the orally active AMPK agonist AICAR might be sufficient to overcome the exercise requirement. Unexpectedly, even in sedentary mice, 4 weeks of AICAR treatment alone induced metabolic genes and enhanced running endurance by 44%. These results demonstrate that AMPK-PPARδ pathway can be targeted by orally active drugs to enhance training adaptation or even to increase endurance without exercise.
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