3 ms·

This is interesting. Diabetes is a well-known risk factor for dementia.

toomuchtodo 2mo ago
Western disease and sugar heavy diets broadly speaking, which Semaglutide is a countermeasure against. Not yet a vaccine, but in due time (probably via gene therapy). Fructose also helps cancer metastases and spread. https://www.sciencealert.com/common-sugar-appears-to-loosen-cancer-cells-and-help-them-spread https://www.sciencealert.com/common-sugar-appears-to-loosen-...
- Alien1Being 2mo ago
  [flagged]
  - toomuchtodo 2mo ago
    Just pattern matching as an autistic human. Similar results were seen on a ketogenic diet (and to some extent, intermittent fasting). What do they have in common? Sugar intake reduction. Is it surprising sugar potentially fuels cancer, contributes to dementia, etc? It shouldn’t be. It’s indirect and a casual connection. There is no health benefit to a high sugar or Western diet, only downside. I think calling it poison is hyperbole, but it’s definitely not healthy, based on all available evidence. I expect to see longitudinal scale results over the next decade as everyone starts taking GLP-1s. (I take a glp-1, they’re an amazing drug class, it changes how your brain operates, charlie day waving arms in front of a whiteboard meme here)
    - BenzeneDream 2mo ago
      Thats due to caloric restriction. A high fat diet isn't going to helpful as well. To think that people cut sugar but continue to eat far too much meat and fat... yikes.
      - picofarad 2mo ago
        Lol there's only three macros. If you cut out carbs you necessarily increase protein and fat, for the same calories. Unless you are merely saying people should eat less; but that should go without saying.
  - tptacek 2mo ago
    I don't see anything RFK-like in that comment.
- diath 2mo ago
  > Western disease and sugar heavy diets broadly speaking No, just being sedentary. There's no such thing as acquired diabetes in physically active people.
  - victorbjorklund 2mo ago
    Doubt you can eat just pure fructose for 30 years and ”move” and avoid diabetes.
    - zemvpferreira 2mo ago
      At the risk of being argumentative I had a horrible diet for the past ~10 years and carried 50 extra pounds. However I also exercised a lot as a hobby and to my shock my glucose and other bloods always came out in the normal range. This year I started Mounjaro and dropped the 50 pounds. Curious to see what my next checkup shows.
      - AlexErrant 2mo ago
        People kick around the idea of the "personal fat threshold". E.g. caucasians seem to be better at carrying fat than, say, Southeast Asians. White people seem to be able to better store fat without metabolic side effects; SEA seems to get T2D at a much lower bodyfat percentage.
        zemvpferreira 2mo ago
        Possibly maybe, but plenty of caucasian friends at my old bodyweight/fat percentage had/have horrible markers. I lean more towards the protective effect of exercise.
        AlexErrant 2mo ago
        Agree 100%. To quote myself: --- Which do you think is worse: smoking, or not exercising? https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2707428 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle... Look at Figure 2C in particular. The hazard ratio of smoking is 1.41. The hazard ratio between "Low" (<25th percentile) and "Below Average" (25th-49th percentile) cardiovascular health is 1.95. In other words, it is better to be a smoker than in the lower 25% of non-exercisers. By far. It's not even close. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40080849 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40080849 Let me emphasize: that exercise hazard ratio is between LOW and BELOW-AVERAGE.
- adjejmxbdjdn 2mo ago
  First of all it’s a nice study. The dosages they always give are way too high and mice are rarely a reliable model. But you’re also ignoring the fact that the same study shows that glucose inhibits the behavior. So your claim that the study indicates its sugar is incorrect. The study indicates a possible impact from fructose which is countered by glucose, so the real issue is the fructose to glucose ratio. Table sugar providing equal fructose and glucose molecules is acquitted by this study.
  - toomuchtodo 2mo ago
    Additional citation: Babies born under sugar rationing grew into adults with lower cancer risk - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49345843 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49345843 - August 2026
- gloryjulio 2mo ago
  Sugar heavy diets is everywhere IF people can afford to have them if you look at the data. There is no such thing as Western vs Eastern in this sense. Note I am not Western
roryirvine 2mo ago
As is being sedentary - there are probably lots of interconnected factors in play, and GLP-1 receptor agonists seem to help with more than one (perhaps even many) of them. Unpicking the exact chains of causation is likely going to be extremely complex, but the general picture continues to look good.
- hobonation 2mo ago
  [dead]
- hinkley 2mo ago
  We should probably be studying people who wear smart watches and collecting the activity levels to control for that. But if GLP-1 makes you more active, who am I to complain. There's the reason they approve stomach stapling surgeries on morbidly obese people. They are so compromised that anything that gives them a chance to be more active offsets some of the risks of surgery, and the risks of inaction.

Western disease and sugar heavy diets broadly speaking, which Semaglutide is a countermeasure against. Not yet a vaccine, but in due time (probably via gene therapy). Fructose also helps cancer metastases and spread. https://www.sciencealert.com/common-sugar-appears-to-loosen-cancer-cells-and-help-them-spread https://www.sciencealert.com/common-sugar-appears-to-loosen-...

Alien1Being 2mo ago
[flagged]
- toomuchtodo 2mo ago
  Just pattern matching as an autistic human. Similar results were seen on a ketogenic diet (and to some extent, intermittent fasting). What do they have in common? Sugar intake reduction. Is it surprising sugar potentially fuels cancer, contributes to dementia, etc? It shouldn’t be. It’s indirect and a casual connection. There is no health benefit to a high sugar or Western diet, only downside. I think calling it poison is hyperbole, but it’s definitely not healthy, based on all available evidence. I expect to see longitudinal scale results over the next decade as everyone starts taking GLP-1s. (I take a glp-1, they’re an amazing drug class, it changes how your brain operates, charlie day waving arms in front of a whiteboard meme here)
  - BenzeneDream 2mo ago
    Thats due to caloric restriction. A high fat diet isn't going to helpful as well. To think that people cut sugar but continue to eat far too much meat and fat... yikes.
    - picofarad 2mo ago
      Lol there's only three macros. If you cut out carbs you necessarily increase protein and fat, for the same calories. Unless you are merely saying people should eat less; but that should go without saying.
- tptacek 2mo ago
  I don't see anything RFK-like in that comment.
diath 2mo ago
> Western disease and sugar heavy diets broadly speaking No, just being sedentary. There's no such thing as acquired diabetes in physically active people.
- victorbjorklund 2mo ago
  Doubt you can eat just pure fructose for 30 years and ”move” and avoid diabetes.
  - zemvpferreira 2mo ago
    At the risk of being argumentative I had a horrible diet for the past ~10 years and carried 50 extra pounds. However I also exercised a lot as a hobby and to my shock my glucose and other bloods always came out in the normal range. This year I started Mounjaro and dropped the 50 pounds. Curious to see what my next checkup shows.
    - AlexErrant 2mo ago
      People kick around the idea of the "personal fat threshold". E.g. caucasians seem to be better at carrying fat than, say, Southeast Asians. White people seem to be able to better store fat without metabolic side effects; SEA seems to get T2D at a much lower bodyfat percentage.
      - zemvpferreira 2mo ago
        Possibly maybe, but plenty of caucasian friends at my old bodyweight/fat percentage had/have horrible markers. I lean more towards the protective effect of exercise.
        AlexErrant 2mo ago
        Agree 100%. To quote myself: --- Which do you think is worse: smoking, or not exercising? https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2707428 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle... Look at Figure 2C in particular. The hazard ratio of smoking is 1.41. The hazard ratio between "Low" (<25th percentile) and "Below Average" (25th-49th percentile) cardiovascular health is 1.95. In other words, it is better to be a smoker than in the lower 25% of non-exercisers. By far. It's not even close. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40080849 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40080849 Let me emphasize: that exercise hazard ratio is between LOW and BELOW-AVERAGE.
adjejmxbdjdn 2mo ago
First of all it’s a nice study. The dosages they always give are way too high and mice are rarely a reliable model. But you’re also ignoring the fact that the same study shows that glucose inhibits the behavior. So your claim that the study indicates its sugar is incorrect. The study indicates a possible impact from fructose which is countered by glucose, so the real issue is the fructose to glucose ratio. Table sugar providing equal fructose and glucose molecules is acquitted by this study.
- toomuchtodo 2mo ago
  Additional citation: Babies born under sugar rationing grew into adults with lower cancer risk - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49345843 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49345843 - August 2026
gloryjulio 2mo ago
Sugar heavy diets is everywhere IF people can afford to have them if you look at the data. There is no such thing as Western vs Eastern in this sense. Note I am not Western

roryirvine 2mo ago

As is being sedentary - there are probably lots of interconnected factors in play, and GLP-1 receptor agonists seem to help with more than one (perhaps even many) of them. Unpicking the exact chains of causation is likely going to be extremely complex, but the general picture continues to look good.

hobonation 2mo ago
[dead]
hinkley 2mo ago
We should probably be studying people who wear smart watches and collecting the activity levels to control for that. But if GLP-1 makes you more active, who am I to complain. There's the reason they approve stomach stapling surgeries on morbidly obese people. They are so compromised that anything that gives them a chance to be more active offsets some of the risks of surgery, and the risks of inaction.