cmcole
09-12-2006, 08:50 AM
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5335176.stm
Snippets:
Scientists have pinpointed a unlikely potential weapon in the war against obesity - seaweed.
They found rats given fucoxanthin - a pigment in brown kelp - lost up to 10% of their body weight, mainly from around the gut.
The compound is found at high levels in several different types of brown seaweed. But it is absent from green and red seaweeds, which are also used in Asian cooking.
Dr Miyashita's team studied the effects of fucoxanthin on more than 200 rats and mice.
They found it fought flab on two fronts.
In obese animals, the compound appeared to stimulate a protein called UCP1 which causes fat to be broken down. The protein is found in a type of fat called white adipose tissue, which is responsible for the thickening of the girth dubbed "middle-age spread".
Dr Ian Campbell, medical director of the charity Weight Concern, said a 5% to 10% weight loss was comparable with existing anti-obesity drugs.
But he added: "We don't know in how many humans this would be achieved, nor for how long.
"The possibility of it being side-effect free is attractive but it is a long way away from being anything resembling an anti-obesity pill.
"The problem remains that medication, however good, will only ever plaster over the cracks. "The hard fact is that only a significant change in lifestyle will ever achieve long-term meaningful weight loss and it is here that we should be focusing our efforts."
Snippets:
Scientists have pinpointed a unlikely potential weapon in the war against obesity - seaweed.
They found rats given fucoxanthin - a pigment in brown kelp - lost up to 10% of their body weight, mainly from around the gut.
The compound is found at high levels in several different types of brown seaweed. But it is absent from green and red seaweeds, which are also used in Asian cooking.
Dr Miyashita's team studied the effects of fucoxanthin on more than 200 rats and mice.
They found it fought flab on two fronts.
In obese animals, the compound appeared to stimulate a protein called UCP1 which causes fat to be broken down. The protein is found in a type of fat called white adipose tissue, which is responsible for the thickening of the girth dubbed "middle-age spread".
Dr Ian Campbell, medical director of the charity Weight Concern, said a 5% to 10% weight loss was comparable with existing anti-obesity drugs.
But he added: "We don't know in how many humans this would be achieved, nor for how long.
"The possibility of it being side-effect free is attractive but it is a long way away from being anything resembling an anti-obesity pill.
"The problem remains that medication, however good, will only ever plaster over the cracks. "The hard fact is that only a significant change in lifestyle will ever achieve long-term meaningful weight loss and it is here that we should be focusing our efforts."