Once-Weekly Semaglutide in Adults with Overweight or Obesity, 2021, Wilding et al

I disagree with the term “addiction”, far too misleading IMO, but I agree with the inflammation part.

rather than addiction, I would call it satiety imbalance. I agree that McDonald’s is partly responsible...you only have to look at the growth in emerging markets to see a correlation. However correlations are just that not the basis for sound strategies on something that is complicated.

There are probably solutions in the form of regulation (e.g curbing multibuy promotions, limiting portions/portion advice on some types of food) but outright bans seem too extreme and impractical.

I’m hopeful that fibre research will hold some of the answers. I’m probably biased though since that was my main areas of research when I was in that game (b-glucan/cholesterol lowering etc).

 

I have to say I dont understand the appeal of McDonald’s... I’ve never eaten a Big Mac or any other beef burger from any of those chains.
When lockdown lifted in NZ, McDonald’s had queues around the block at 3am and ran out of food. People bought bucket loads of food and ate until they were sick. Lots of people behaved as though they were desperate...

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5507106/

 

As someone who worked on inflammation for decades I can assure you that the abstract does not in fact say anything about a link between inflammation and obesity. It relates to cytokines that are used in inflammation and are increased to a a tiny extent in association with obesity as well - but in that case are not associated with inflammation but rather with obesity. This review is typical of the sort of disinformation that science is full of these days. Viruses and seasickness can both cause vomiting but that does not mean there is any association between viruses and seasickness.

 

In the US, in my childhood, there were few obese kids, teens and adults.
I think these factors are relevant:

Food advertising on TV, especially fast food chains.

TV, video games for entertainment, especially if too dangerous to play outside.

High fat/starch food is the cheapest. Corn syrup and sugar added to all processed food.

Lack of exercise in jobs, everyday life (the car)/

Lack of family mealtimes, snacking or eating in the street isn't taboo (French paradox?).

Breakdown of sources of emotional support (family, etc.), food a substitute. More perceived stress in life (food a soother).

The more people gain weight, the more one's own weight gain is perceived as normal, fitting in with the median, the crowd.

Once this drug is off patent, I suppose it will be as common as Metformin for diabetes.

 

Which just might be why the people who want to sell as much food as possible, put them there.

Doesn't explain my 'liking' for home made wholemeal bread tho

 

Happened to glance at the packet of chicken thighs - tonight's dinner - £3.60/2KG or 90 pence for 2 portions (500 grams). OK I go overboard by filleting them and cooking the meat/skin/bone separately in an air fryer. But yes it is cheap. Pre-covid, before I adopted drive through click and collect, I bought free range chicken thighs, they were dearer £1.25 for 2 portions I think.
Breakfast is porridge (£1/KG or about 7pence/portion) with some frozen berries and chopped nuts (teeth issues).
So yes, some food is relatively cheap.
The stories of people who don't have enough to eat are difficult --- shouldn't happen in wealthy countries.

EDIT - should have added that my own experience of changing what I was eating (more fibre etc), and extending my overnight fast, were that it was difficult - but then it became less difficult/normal. I wouldn't dispute the idea that "addiction" to less healthy food/lower fibre foods/processed food is real.

 

It is interesting that the bogeys in this story - sucrose, salt, starch and fat - are all horrible on their own.
Try eating plain sugar lumps or salt or boiled rice on its own or margarine.
But mix sucrose with fat and wow - you have butterscotch and ice cream, delicious.
Mix starch with fat and salt and hey - you have potato crisps/chips/McDonald fries.
Mix sucrose with starch and you have Mr Kipling.
Mix sucrose with some fruit acid and you have Coke.

The people who sell these things must know all about this but we don't hear about the addictive properties of mixtures in popular debate.

I am pretty sure that there are two different pleasure pathways in our brains. One is for McDonald's and the other is for Wonko's wholemeal bread, well-made muesli or porridge, fresh fruit, vegetable tagine, and so on. I also suspect that at some point in our lives we get used to following one path or the other and very much dependent on influence from family and friends. Once you are on one path the other one tastes more and more terrible. It isn't a matter of more fat or more sugar or more starch or whatever so much as a matter of crucial taste mixtures that give pleasure through different routes.

 

That's a collection of adult taste buds talking tho.

As a child I used to eat sugar lumps whenever I found them, and pocket any that were surplus to my mouths capacity.

I liked sugar - but probably unusually, was never that keen on sweets, or even desserts.

So, mixture theory, not so sure that 5 year old me would agree

 

Yes, I was going to say something about age - although old age and the lack of need for calories with time - but had said enough.

And sugar may be the odd one out here.


It is something one could babble on about for hours I guess!

 

I've had a memorable burger --- bacon --- cheese --- in Queenstown South Island. Can't see why you guys would eat McDonalds --- OK it's cheap. You've also got green mussels -- probably the best mussels in the world

Ever get back there I've a list of eats --- elephant fish with chips ---

 

Looks like a new phase was reported at a conference. Seems like you will need to be on this for life...or else you gain the weight back. Blockbuster drug for Novo Nordisk.

https://www.healio.com/news/endocri...eight-loss-maintained-with-weekly-semaglutide

site might be paywalled.

 

https://www.fiercebiotech.com/biote...tide-clears-high-bar-set-novos-wegovy-obesity

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/27/novo-nordisk-ozempic-can-be-made-for-less-than-5-a-month-study.html


Novo Nordisk's $1,000 diabetes drug Ozempic can be made for less than $5 a month, study suggests