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Fat and Evolution

Interesting items from David Allison’s Obesity and Energetics Offerings  http://www.soph.uab.edu/energetics/home Energetics, Ecology & Evolution Fat or lean: Adjustment of endogenous energy stores to predictable and unpredictable changes in allostatic load. Click Here Allometry of thermal variables in mammals: consequences of body size and phylogeny. Click Here Experimental demonstration of the […]

What is sleep for?

My colleagues and I are currently studying the effects of sleep disorders on – you guessed it – gut microbiota. Sleep is one of the last frontiers in the study of lifestyle-related risk factors for chronic diseases. For instance, it has been well established that smoking reduces lifespan and increases […]

Boys cost more than girls?

A student brought this article to my attention: A biodemographical study of life span in pre-industrial Finland has provided evidence that boys are impose a longevity cost to their mothers (but not their fathers). In other words, the more boys a woman has, the shorter her lifespan.  It has been […]

What about sugar?

Update 3/2/13: The authors of the PLOS One have elaborated on their results showing a link between sugar intake and diabetes in a blog entry entitled: Interpreting our findings from today’s study on sugars and diabetes They write: “The bottom line is that this is one of several studies from […]

NYT articles on gut microbiota

The New York Times today has a nicely written article on the gut microbiota-breastfeeding-autoimmune connection by Moises Velasquez-Manoff. NYT has another piece on breastfeeding, mode of delivery (e.g. C section versus vaginal birth) and gut microbiota. Microbiota research has really become mainstream! JA

Microbiota and the Predictive Adaptive Response

Developmental programming is thought to be a source of many adult diseases, including obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. The notion that early life experiences, including nutrient transfer from the mother in utero, can shape the risk of later adult diseases has been termed the “predictive adaptive response”. This relationship first […]