4 ms·

Strange the article laments the lack of a silver bullet for weight loss. Surely the idea of a nonitrusive round of radiation (a procedure that has been around f

Strange the article laments the lack of a silver bullet for weight loss. Surely the idea of a nonitrusive round of radiation (a procedure that has been around for just shy of a century) resulting in rapid body fat loss. The impermanence of the condition seems to make boost its potential effects. Simply go in for a few treatments until you're down to your target weight, and if you happen to gain it back in a few months or years, just go in again... This also gives credence to idea that obesity is a psychological malady, like depression or schizophrenia. It is certainly as difficult to treat.

DanBC 15y ago
> This also gives credence to idea that obesity is a psychological malady, like depression or schizophrenia. It is certainly as difficult to treat. I've often thought that extreme obesity (let's say over 180 kg or about 400 lbs) could be an eating disorder. But when I've asked eating disorder experts they say that the research doesn't support that. Certainly there are psychiatric / psychological aspects (depression / low self esteem / etc) to extreme obesity. And I guess people would say that if there's a brain defect to cause it then it's a neurological disease, not psychological.
- pavel_lishin 15y ago
  > it's a neurological disease, not psychological. The more we learn about the brain, the blurrier that line becomes.
pavel_lishin 15y ago
The article didn't mention any side effects. I take this to mean that we just don't know what they are yet, rather that there are none. I remember reading an article about a doctor irradiating children's thyroids. I think the goal was to shrink the thyroid, believing that it hindered speech acquisition. Turns out, all it did was raise the rates of thyroid cancer to something near 100% in the treated children.
- klenwell 15y ago
  The version I heard here: http://www.radiolab.org/2008/dec/29/how-to-cure-what-ails-you/ http://www.radiolab.org/2008/dec/29/how-to-cure-what-ails-yo... linked the practice to doctors' misunderstanding of the cause of SIDS (crib death). It's interesting to learn where they came up with that misunderstanding. Edit: In this case, they were actually irradiating the thymus gland.
  - pavel_lishin 15y ago
    Thanks, internet!

DanBC 15y ago

> This also gives credence to idea that obesity is a psychological malady, like depression or schizophrenia. It is certainly as difficult to treat. I've often thought that extreme obesity (let's say over 180 kg or about 400 lbs) could be an eating disorder. But when I've asked eating disorder experts they say that the research doesn't support that. Certainly there are psychiatric / psychological aspects (depression / low self esteem / etc) to extreme obesity. And I guess people would say that if there's a brain defect to cause it then it's a neurological disease, not psychological.

pavel_lishin 15y ago
> it's a neurological disease, not psychological. The more we learn about the brain, the blurrier that line becomes.

pavel_lishin 15y ago

The article didn't mention any side effects. I take this to mean that we just don't know what they are yet, rather that there are none. I remember reading an article about a doctor irradiating children's thyroids. I think the goal was to shrink the thyroid, believing that it hindered speech acquisition. Turns out, all it did was raise the rates of thyroid cancer to something near 100% in the treated children.

klenwell 15y ago
The version I heard here: http://www.radiolab.org/2008/dec/29/how-to-cure-what-ails-you/ http://www.radiolab.org/2008/dec/29/how-to-cure-what-ails-yo... linked the practice to doctors' misunderstanding of the cause of SIDS (crib death). It's interesting to learn where they came up with that misunderstanding. Edit: In this case, they were actually irradiating the thymus gland.
- pavel_lishin 15y ago
  Thanks, internet!