MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Takehiro Sugiyama, MD, MSHS, PhD
Project Director, Diabetes Policy Planning Office
Management and Planning Bureau
Fellow, Department of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism
National Center for Global Health and Medicine
Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo Japan
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Sugiyama: In the US nationally representative sample from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2010, we found that statin users in 2009-2010 eat 9.6% more calories and 14.4% more fat than statin users in 1999-2000. These increases were not observed in statin non-users; the trends of caloric and fat intake were statistically different between statin users and non-users. In 1999-2000, caloric and fat intake was significantly less for statin users compared with non-users, but the difference between the groups because smaller as time went by and there was no statistical difference in 2009-2010. Body mass index increased more rapidly for statin users compared to non-users.
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Shanthi Srinivasan, M.D.
Associate Professor of Medicine
Division of Digestive Diseases Department of Medicine
Emory University Atlanta, GA 30322
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Srinivasan: The main findings of this study are that the neurotrophic factor GDNF is was able to protect against the weight gain induced by mice on a high fat diet. The mice that had overexpression of GDNF showed less weight gain while eating the same high fat diet as the control mice. GDNF seems to have effects on the genes regulating fat metabolism and energy expenditure and this could be the mechanism of prevention of weight gain.
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Susan E. Swithers PhD
Professor, Behavioral Neuroscience
Department of Psychological Sciences and Ingestive Behavior Research Center
Purdue University, 703 Third Street
West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Swithers: The paper examined the last 5 years of studies that looked at risks associated with consuming artificially sweetened beverages like diet soda. These studies indicated that those who consume diet soda were at significantly greater risk for a variety of negative health outcomes like type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, hypertension and stroke, along with being more likely to gain excess weight. These effects might be due to a disruption of basic learned response. The idea is that normally things when things that taste sweet are consumed, the body receives calories and sugar. Our bodies can learn to prepare to deal with these calories and this sugar by starting up our digestive processes as soon as the sweet taste hits our mouth, for example by releasing hormones that not only help us regulate blood sugar, but also can contribute to feelings of fullness. When we consume diet sodas, the mouth gets the sweet taste, but the body doesn't get the calories or the sugar. The body may then learn that a sweet taste in the mouth doesn't always predict sugar and calories, so it makes adjustments in how many hormones it releases. So when we actually consume real sugar, the body doesn't produce the same kinds of physiological responses, which can lead to overeating, higher blood sugar, and over the long term could contribute to diseases like diabetes and stroke.
It's no secret that women often gain weight as they get older. The sex hormone estrogen has an important, if underappreciated, role to play in those burgeoning waistlines. Now, researchers reporting in the October Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication, have traced those hormonal effects on metabolism to different parts of...