5 ms·

This is awesome finding. I was thinking about similar thing, how, if we didn't store energy as fat, but instead burn it... what kind of changes that would entai

This is awesome finding. I was thinking about similar thing, how, if we didn't store energy as fat, but instead burn it... what kind of changes that would entail for us. I imagined that while too much food would make you sick, in a lot of instances it would give you a lot of energy and it would be awesome if we could use more of the energy we collect. It was just thought experiment, however I did read something later, that makes this whole idea not as great. Essentially it isn't as simple as burning all the energy. However increased rate would definitely be welcome.

duncanawoods 10y ago
> what kind of changes that would entail for us Sadly I would suspect a "flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long" trade-off so premature aging and early death!
- KON_Air 10y ago
  That's agreeable.
- robbiep 10y ago
  Uncoupling proteins (of which there are now 5 known types, up from one when I was a medical student 4 years ago) increase basal metabolic rate. The effect of increasing metabolic rate includes a raft of other metabolic changes (some of which may be because fat is an endocrine tissue by itself and so reducing visceral fat - which has a 'bad' endocrine profile - leads to a systemic improvement in 'healthy' endocrine signalling) that globally improve health. Essentially exercise without exercising, so generally these are good discoveries - but we as yet haven't harnessed it in a useful (ie drug) form
Someone 10y ago
If you burn whatever you eat immediately, you would die from heat stroke if you ate too much and from cold if you didn't eat for a few hours (sleeping would be a problem) So, you need some store. Your liver now is the short-term store; it would have to become the only store. That means you would need a larger liver, much larger for those who are currently obese (anybody know the calories/kg values for glycogen vs body fat?). Death from cirrhosis and/or diabetes (if the liver gives up storing glycogen) probably would be the end result. Storing excess energy in new muscles probably would be the best option in modern society (want to become more muscular? Drink more sugar drinks!), but our current genetic program doesn't do that (?because creating and breaking down muscles when energy is needed is too hard?)

duncanawoods 10y ago

> what kind of changes that would entail for us Sadly I would suspect a "flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long" trade-off so premature aging and early death!

KON_Air 10y ago
That's agreeable.
robbiep 10y ago
Uncoupling proteins (of which there are now 5 known types, up from one when I was a medical student 4 years ago) increase basal metabolic rate. The effect of increasing metabolic rate includes a raft of other metabolic changes (some of which may be because fat is an endocrine tissue by itself and so reducing visceral fat - which has a 'bad' endocrine profile - leads to a systemic improvement in 'healthy' endocrine signalling) that globally improve health. Essentially exercise without exercising, so generally these are good discoveries - but we as yet haven't harnessed it in a useful (ie drug) form

Someone 10y ago

If you burn whatever you eat immediately, you would die from heat stroke if you ate too much and from cold if you didn't eat for a few hours (sleeping would be a problem) So, you need some store. Your liver now is the short-term store; it would have to become the only store. That means you would need a larger liver, much larger for those who are currently obese (anybody know the calories/kg values for glycogen vs body fat?). Death from cirrhosis and/or diabetes (if the liver gives up storing glycogen) probably would be the end result. Storing excess energy in new muscles probably would be the best option in modern society (want to become more muscular? Drink more sugar drinks!), but our current genetic program doesn't do that (?because creating and breaking down muscles when energy is needed is too hard?)