Obesity

[newfhouse]

For example, a fetus which is small for gestational age may initiate a starvation response meaning that after birth and for the rest of their life, they have a greater propensity to eat as much as they can and store the energy as fat.

Damn, I thought I had a propensity for tubbiness because I was an eleven pound baby. Thanks for puncturing that balloon.

 

[winjim]

Damn, I thought I had a propensity for tubbiness because I was an eleven pound baby. Thanks for puncturing that balloon.

Ha. I think it might work that way round as well...

 

[KnittyNorah]

I'm teetotal, and the only cheese I make is cream / cottage cheese if I've got milk about to go t*ts up.

But I only have a galley kitchen, so I know where you're coming from in terms of lack-of-space.

I couldn't give up baking bread.

And I couldn't give up on my yoghurt and cheese! TBH, it was an easy decision to make - the purchased stuff bears no significant likeness to the stuff I make.

 

[Reynard]

And I couldn't give up on my yoghurt and cheese! TBH, it was an easy decision to make - the purchased stuff bears no significant likeness to the stuff I make.

As is often the case when comparing home made to shop bought. The difference lies in making it to your own tastes rather than a) to a particular price point and b) to suit the tastes of Mr & Mrs Average.

 

[battered]

Although historically, bread was raised with beer barm until bakers' yeast came along. Breweries and bakeries were usually next door to each other.

Maybe if you bring the cheese, I'll bring the bread and the chutney

Beer yeast and bread yeast are very close if not identical. Both are Saccharomyces cerevisae, possibly different varieties. As you say the use of barm, a brewing waste product, was adopted because it worked, and it was free. Quicker than sourdough too.

 

[KnittyNorah]

As is often the case when comparing home made to shop bought. The difference lies in making it to your own tastes rather than a) to a particular price point and b) to suit the tastes of Mr & Mrs Average.

Indeed - and shop-bought yoghurt, in particular the heavily sweetened, flavoured and thickened stuff, is in truth a bland 'dairy-style dessert' rather than a versatile fermented milk product. A bit like a comparison between home-made wholegrain and seed-full bread, and ready-sliced Chorleywood-processed yeast-risen baked white wheatflour goods …

 

[Reynard]

Drat... Now I'm hungry!!!

Plain yoghurt makes for good Naan bread, btw...

 

[KnittyNorah]

Beer yeast and bread yeast are very close if not identical. Both are Saccharomyces cerevisae, possibly different varieties. As you say the use of barm, a brewing waste product, was adopted because it worked, and it was free. Quicker than sourdough too.

Definitely different strains nowadays - hundreds of them; same species of course - well at least for bread, most wines and English-style ales and stouts. Most industrial brewers of lager started using a bottom-fermenting cool-temperature yeast - Saccharomyces pastorianus - in the 19thC, which has very recently been confirmed to be an interesting inter-species hybrid. There's another interspecies hybrid - S. bayanus - which is often used in the production of high-alcohol % wines due to its tolerance levels.
Given that yeast fermentation produces CO2 (for the rise in bread), alcohol (for wine, beer, cider etc) and a range of different volatile chemicals - esters and phenols - offering different flavours and aromas from sweet to savoury and nice to nasty, it didn't take long for selection and 'breeding pure' to start taking place. Even though early bakers and brewers wouldn't've had microbial understanding of yeast cultures, they were able to maintain locally interesting, useful and/or preferred cultures by reusing doughs, starters and dregs for later batches, so they've been selected for their 'best performance' in the production of what is needed for a very long time.

 

[FrankCrank]

Wow, this thread sure is galloping along. Here in the tropics it's hard to work up an honest sweat - just moving around can have you dripping in no time. For about the past year I've been doing a morning walk for an hour or so. This has greatly reduced my pot belly - seems to burn more calories than say an hours bike ride. I do about 2 hours cycling per day also, but being a flat area it's harder to burn calories.
As to salt, I never add any to stuff I cook, but often have a craving for crisps or some such savory things, and guess it's due to the amount of salt sweated out and my body telling me to take in more - at least that's my excuse. Now, if only I could find a reason for why I eat lots of chocolate

 

[KnittyNorah]

Drat... Now I'm hungry!!!

Plain yoghurt makes for good Naan bread, btw...

I've just been downstairs, spread a thick layer of sharp home-made herby, slightly chilli-y, yoghurt cheese on a slice of Pumpernickel, and eaten it - yum!

 

[Fab Foodie]

I just bought some new 105 shifters. I know I know, down tube levers would be so much healthier. I just can't stop myself.

And some snazzy handlebar tape as topping

Clearly the education, medical and social care systems are letting you down. The government must act to prevent more self harm....

 

[Scaleyback]

It's important to note, amidst all this talk of choices, that some people are more 'hard wired' than others. There are genetic and epigenetic factors at work. For example, a fetus which is small for gestational age may initiate a starvation response meaning that after birth and for the rest of their life, they have a greater propensity to eat as much as they can and store the energy as fat. This has an effect on not only their weight but also morbidities such as CV disease, diabetes etc.

And... here's the interesting bit, the starvation response is achieved by DNA methylation in utero, silencing various genes and activating others. This methylation is itself heritable, meaning that the starvation response is passed down through the generations. So if your grandmother had a small baby, it is possible that you and your children will have that epigenetic alteration and be prone to overeating and obesity.
Yes I have just taken a nutrition exam and yes I think I did alright in it, thanks for asking.

Blimey ! this is not going to help the obesity crisis is it ? nutritional advisor to obese patient " you are likely suffering from a starvation response which was achieved by DNA methylation in utero" Obese patient to nutritional advosor "There you go, I told everyone I 'eat like a bird' but I still put on weight, I may as well give up the diet, this is all my granny's fault. "

What we need to discover now is why this "starvation response" has lain largely dormant until the 21st century ? in 1960 just 1% of men and 2% of women were obese, in 2021 in the UK 28% of people are obese and a further 36% are overweight. Are we really expected to believe one of the reasons we are now suffering an obesity crisis is linked to the famines of the middle ages ?

 

[tyred]

Blimey ! this is not going to help the obesity crisis is it ? nutritional advisor to obese patient " you are likely suffering from a starvation response which was achieved by DNA methylation in utero" Obese patient to nutritional advosor "There you go, I told everyone I 'eat like a bird' but I still put on weight, I may as well give up the diet, this is all my granny's fault. "

What we need to discover now is why this "starvation response" has lain largely dormant until the 21st century ? in 1960 just 1% of men and 2% of women were obese, in 2021 in the UK 28% of people are obese and a further 36% are overweight. Are we really expected to believe one of the reasons we are now suffering an obesity crisis is linked to the famines of the middle ages ?

Could it be something to do with the fact that food of all types but especially the high calorie type is more abundant and available more cheaply (to those of us in the affluent West) than ever before?

One hundred years ago the option of over-eating wasn't available to ordinary people in the way it is today and they couldn't pop into Tesco's for a six pack of Tennent's and a multipack of cheese and onion crisps and get change from a tenner.

 

[tyred]

Winston Churchill and Oliver Hardy are just two very well known examples that prove that obesity was an issue prior to 1960 for the more privileged people in society.

 

[matticus]

one of the reasons we are now suffering an obesity crisis is linked to the famines of the middle ages

It's not as simple as that.


(I hope it was my turn? Apologies if I've elbowed someone else aside ... )