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Western diet

Western diet triggers genes that cause the body to store more fat

Sunday, December 13, 2009
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com (See all articles...)
Tags: western diet, body fat, health news


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(NaturalNews) New research published in The Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) has found that the "Western" diet, typically high in sugar and fat, may be responsible for activating genes that signal the body to become fatter. According to scientists, the body's response to high amounts of energy-dense food is to activate the kappa opioid receptor which triggers increased fat storage.

Researchers arrived at this conclusion by conducting an experiment on two groups of mice. One group had its kappa opioid receptors genetically deactivated while the other remained intact. Both groups were fed diets high in fat and sugar for 16 weeks. At the end of 16 weeks, the group with the deactivated receptor remained lean while the control group gained significant weight.

Besides limiting their bodies' ability to store energy-dense food in their fat stores, the mice whose receptors had been deactivated were noted to also have a limited ability to assimilate and store nutrients from the foods they ingested.

Traci Ann Czyzyk-Morgan, one of the study's researchers, indicated that the findings prove the hypothesis long held by many in the scientific community that the kappa opioid receptor may be responsible for causing widespread obesity in Western countries. She and others continue to encourage people to avoid diets high in fat and sugar.

Now that they better understand the process by which fatty, sugary foods turn to fat, those in the medical community are seeking other options as well, including therapeutic ways of deactivating the receptors in order to help curb obesity.

Comments by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger

After reading this, the first question in the minds of many people is probably, "How do I deactivate my kappa opioid receptor?"

But this is a loaded question, and it represents a very unhealthy approach to personal health. For starters, there's no such thing as a standalone "opioid receptor organ" that can be turned off like a light switch. Opioid receptors are distributed throughout the nervous system, and they have their own important function such as regulating the body's response to stress.

It's a dangerous pursuit to try to modify or disable essential functions of the human body in an effort to cause automatic weight loss. What most patients really want is some magic switch that will cause them to lose weight without them having to change their terrible diets. "Turn off my opioid receptors," they say, "and I can eat all the cake and hamburgers I want!"

I say rather than trying to disable opioid receptors in people, we should all be asking why the decision-making centers of consumers' brains have already been disabled when it comes to their diets. In order to fight obesity today, what our world needs is more brain function, not less. And that comes from eating brain-enhancing foods such as organic, fresh vegetables (or the fresh juice made from them).

The best way to lose weight is to make smart food choices at every meal, then combine that effort with regular physical exercise.

Sources for this story include:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-...

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About the author:Mike Adams (aka the "Health Ranger") is a best selling author (#1 best selling science book on Amazon.com) and a globally recognized scientific researcher in clean foods. He serves as the founding editor of NaturalNews.com and the lab science director of an internationally accredited (ISO 17025) analytical laboratory known as CWC Labs. There, he was awarded a Certificate of Excellence for achieving extremely high accuracy in the analysis of toxic elements in unknown water samples using ICP-MS instrumentation. Adams is also highly proficient in running liquid chromatography, ion chromatography and mass spectrometry time-of-flight analytical instrumentation.

Adams is a person of color whose ancestors include Africans and Native American Indians. He's also of Native American heritage, which he credits as inspiring his "Health Ranger" passion for protecting life and nature against the destruction caused by chemicals, heavy metals and other forms of pollution.

Adams is the founder and publisher of the open source science journal Natural Science Journal, the author of numerous peer-reviewed science papers published by the journal, and the author of the world's first book that published ICP-MS heavy metals analysis results for foods, dietary supplements, pet food, spices and fast food. The book is entitled Food Forensics and is published by BenBella Books.

In his laboratory research, Adams has made numerous food safety breakthroughs such as revealing rice protein products imported from Asia to be contaminated with toxic heavy metals like lead, cadmium and tungsten. Adams was the first food science researcher to document high levels of tungsten in superfoods. He also discovered over 11 ppm lead in imported mangosteen powder, and led an industry-wide voluntary agreement to limit heavy metals in rice protein products.

In addition to his lab work, Adams is also the (non-paid) executive director of the non-profit Consumer Wellness Center (CWC), an organization that redirects 100% of its donations receipts to grant programs that teach children and women how to grow their own food or vastly improve their nutrition. Through the non-profit CWC, Adams also launched Nutrition Rescue, a program that donates essential vitamins to people in need. Click here to see some of the CWC success stories.

With a background in science and software technology, Adams is the original founder of the email newsletter technology company known as Arial Software. Using his technical experience combined with his love for natural health, Adams developed and deployed the content management system currently driving NaturalNews.com. He also engineered the high-level statistical algorithms that power SCIENCE.naturalnews.com, a massive research resource featuring over 10 million scientific studies.

Adams is well known for his incredibly popular consumer activism video blowing the lid on fake blueberries used throughout the food supply. He has also exposed "strange fibers" found in Chicken McNuggets, fake academic credentials of so-called health "gurus," dangerous "detox" products imported as battery acid and sold for oral consumption, fake acai berry scams, the California raw milk raids, the vaccine research fraud revealed by industry whistleblowers and many other topics.

Adams has also helped defend the rights of home gardeners and protect the medical freedom rights of parents. Adams is widely recognized to have made a remarkable global impact on issues like GMOs, vaccines, nutrition therapies, human consciousness.

In addition to his activism, Adams is an accomplished musician who has released over a dozen popular songs covering a variety of activism topics.

Click here to read a more detailed bio on Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, at HealthRanger.com.

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