Vinegar and weight loss in women of eighteenth-century France: a lesson from the past.

This short note reports the eighteenth-century account of Mademoiselle Lapaneterie, a French woman who started drinking vinegar to lose weight and died one month later. The case, which was first published by Pierre Desault in 1733, has not yet been reported by present-day behavioural scholars. Similar reports about cases in 1776 are also presented, confirming that some women were using vinegar for weight loss. Those cases can be conceived as a lesson from the past for contemporary policies against the deceptive marketing of potentially hazardous weight-loss products.

Respuesta a la dieta en función del genotipo: hacia una nutriciónpersonalizada en el obeso / Gene related outcomes to personalized hypocaloric diets in obese individuals

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Drosophila lifespan control by dietary restriction independent of insulin-like signaling.

Reduced insulin/insulin-like growth factor (IGF) signaling may be a natural way for the reduction of dietary nutrients to extend lifespan. While evidence challenging this hypothesis is accumulating with Caenorhabditis elegans, for Drosophila melanogaster it is still thought that insulin/IGF and the mechanisms of dietary restriction (DR) might as yet function through overlapping mechanisms. Here, we aim to understand this potential overlap. We found that over-expression of dFOXO in head fat body extends lifespan and reduces steady-state mRNA abundance of insulin-like peptide-2 under conditions of high dietary yeast, but not when yeast is limiting. In contrast, conditions of DR that increase lifespan change only insulin-like peptide-5 (ilp5) mRNA abundance. Thus, reduction of ilp5 mRNA is associated with longevity extension by DR, while reduction of insulin-like peptide-2 is associated with the diet-dependent effects of FOXO over-expression upon lifespan. To assess whether reduction of ilp5 is required for DR to extend lifespan, we blocked its diet-dependent change with RNAi. Loss of the ilp5 dietary response did not diminish the capacity of DR to extend lifespan. Finally, we assessed the capacity of DR to extend lifespan in the absence of dFOXO, the insulin/IGF-responsive transcription factor. As with the knockdown of ilp5 diet responsiveness, DR was equally effective among genotypes with and without dFOXO. It is clear from many Drosophila studies that insulin/IGF mediates growth and metabolic responses to nutrition, but we now find no evidence that this endocrine system mediates the interaction between dietary yeast and longevity extension.

Medical, metabolic, and psychological effects of weight cycling.

This article reviews studies on the effects of weight cycling and weight variability on metabolism, psychological status, morbidity, and mortality. Repeated bouts of weight loss and regain, known as weight cycling or yo-yo dieting, are highly prevalent, occur in males and females, and are common in both overweight and nonoverweight individuals. While there has been no consistent demonstration that, as was first thought, weight cycling makes subsequent weight loss more difficult or regain more rapid, it is possible that this does occur under some conditions or in particular individuals. There are stronger and more consistent links between body weight variability and negative health outcomes, particularly all-cause mortality and mortality from coronary heart disease. Weight cycling may also have negative psychological and behavioral consequences; studies have reported increased risk for psychopathology, life dissatisfaction, and binge eating. The bulk of epidemiologic research shows an association of weight variability with morbidity and mortality, although the mechanisms are not clear at present. There is a clear need for further research on the effects of weight cycling on behavior, metabolism, and health. Understanding and promoting weight maintenance is an important priority.

Fatalities on the liquid-protein diet: an analysis of possible causes.

Reports of deaths occurring in patients using variants of the liquid-protein diet (LPD) have raised some questions about the safety of this procedure for the management of obesity. Case reports involving 44 publicized deaths were reviewed. Possible causes of death including such factors as potassium and/or electrolyte deficiencies, inadequate or poor quality protein, imperfect patient selection or compliance, an associated medications or disease were examined. Data in eight patients are insufficient for analysis or show that the patients were not using a LPD. Of the remaining 36 patients 32 were inappropriately managed as judged by conservative standards. Four patients who may have been properly managed all had known preexisting cardiac disease. The analysis does not identify any single factor which is responsible for the deaths. It shows that the procedure was widely misused and suggests that this contributed in multiple ways to the fatalities. No properly managed patient died as a direct result of the LPD and the cardiac deaths could not be ascribed to the LPD. Since the LPD, when properly supervised, has demonstrated great promise in the management of obesity, it is suggested that caution be exercised in dismissing the LPD because of adverse publicity.