Making Fat Disappear

 

So do you have a useful suggestion? Or are you just going to complain about a possible way to help obese people be healthier?

It strikes me as somewhat humorous when the authors on studies like this say we're a long way to use in humans.  When you're talking about introducing foreign genes  the only way to get away with it (i.e. overcome the immune system) is via injecting them into the embryo i.e. germline changes.  Basically you'd have to create a new subsect of humans that would permanently pass down these genes. "Instead, Collins says, scientists might consider introducing an engineered pathway that allows the body to do something that it couldn't before." Jim why don't you expand on what this statement really means.

I have to wonder what happens to these mice if they have this modification and don't consume ton of unhealthy crap? Would they starve to death because all their sugar was going up in smoke?

I'm 35 and thin as a wire. The less exercise I get and the more food I eat, the skinnier I get.

As calorie restriction is yet the best path to a prolonged life, I would like to know the impact of this new pathway on the mice longevity. Besides, what about the strength, activity and cognitive abilities of those engineered mice? I guess only a longitudinal study of 2 to 3 years (usual mice lifespan) will tell us.

I wonder how the physical fitness industry will respond to this..
Besides, genetic modification/ manipulation may not be widely acceptable anytime soon.. We will need another more viable method...

Though I, of course, think it's a shame that so many people in the world  are allowed to starve or be undernourished, there is no rational correlation between what I eat , whether too much or too little, and the amount of food that people in other countries receive to eat.
This problem is much closer to home than people ever want to admit. While I am willing to take action to feed the needy near me, I don't think it's arguable that it's my personal fault they are hungry because I have a weight problem (which by the way is TOTALLY hereditary for me, and most overweight people are burdened with some element of heredity, even if it's a psychosomatic family trait. Be grateful if you are not so burdened, and stop judging what you couldn't possibly understand!), but I do what I can because it's right to do it. They like myself are subject to powers beyond their control and need a bit of compassion. Considering the fact that I am not a megalomaniac billionaire industrialist, nor a member of the World Bank, nor any such mega-entity controlling the world's economies, I don't think I can be held responsible for the hunger of people in the Third World. But, neither am I a sweat shop owning Third World business tycoon exploiting my own community, or a corrupt Third World government official taking bribes to help and allow foreign companies to exploit my own country. I believe that, as ironic as it may sound, we have to stop thinking globally, at least when it comes to resolving a problem as personal and direct as hunger, and start thinking locally. I'd be willing to share with the children in India, just as I do with people here, but I can't help noticing that it would be a practical impossibility, and that there are people a lot closer who are failing to do that, also. I'll state plainly that I think their failure is much worse than mine, though it receives no notice in such discussions as these. I'm so sick of being blamed for what's happening on the other side of the world. I'd like to point out that greed is a universal human failing, and not limited to "Westerners". If it weren't, wealthy people in the "third world" would make sure that everyone around them had enough to eat. Instead they allow a level of disparity to exist that rivals anything we have created here in the "West", at least, around us in our communities. Charity should begin at home, and if it did many of the world's problems would be eased, or even overcome. Let them take some responsibility for the people within their arms reach. It has always been greed at the highest economic levels in every country that creates such problems. Not my personal relationship with ice cream, however troubled. That is such a reach! Come on. Blame the fat people for world hunger?! Please!
As far as the breathing "carbon signature" issue, please, now you are going to say fat people would be responsible for global warming if they use this technology? We are a planet full of carbon-based life forms, it's all going to come out one way or the other. And they always poo-poo the complaint that fat people are discriminated against. Why not blame us for the Middle East conflict while you're at it? I have no doubt that's next, and it makes as much "sense".