Healthy Andy

Earlier today, I posted a huge win for Science with a gel that fixes cavities.  Well, Science just crapped the bed, because now we’ve got this:  the first genetically modified (GM) animal is about to be released onto the market for human consumption.

Oh, great.  Because we haven’t screwed up our food supply enough with pesticides, herbicides, or high fructose corn syrup.  It wasn’t enough that we started genetically modifying corn.  No, now we’re going to take the next step toward complete stupidity and start eating Frankenfish.

What’s the modification?  They’re taking salmon and inserting  DNA from some sort of eel so it will grow faster in a fish farm.  Farmed fish is already unhealthy, for the same reason penned-up livestock isn’t as healthy as grass-fed beef or chicken, but this is really taking it to another level of unhealthy… and un-natural.

Don’t get me wrong, we’ve been genetically modifying animals for centuries… through breeding.  But that uses the natural processes of genetic selection, not some cut-and-paste laboratory procedure where we’re combining DNA of animals that don’t breed.  Now we’re adding together bits of DNA that  never evolved to be together, and doing it in a way that Nature never allowed for during the evolutionary process.

What could possibly go wrong?

Here’s a basic rule of thumb to hold on to.  The more modified, refined, or otherwise un-natural a food is, the worse it is for you.  The further from Nature you get, the more opportunity you have for some weird, unforseen side effect.  So stick to whole foods, and eat as wild as possible (in a sense of getting closer to Nature, not with reckless abandon).

Avoid Frankenfish and stay healthy!

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/7857310/Giant-salmon-will-be-first-GM-animal-available-for-eating.html

Science marches on.  In yet another stunning display of well-meaning stupidity, now scientists are trying to activate brown fat in adults so they can burn off calories more easily.

Let me explain.  Brown fat is something that you usually find only in babies; it’s different from white fat, which is basically regular fat, in that brown fat will generate heat (and therefore burn calories).  That’s why babies have it- it helps keep them warm until they’re developed enough to regulate their own heat more effectively.

So, the “genius” idea is, to stimulate the tiny bits of brown fat remnants left over in the adult body, to try to burn off calories and help people lose weight.  The way they want to do this, is to mess with the COX-2 enzyme in the body, which does all kinds of stuff like regulate inflammation.

Riiiiiiight.  Because it’s always a fantastic idea to mess around with people’s biochemistry, in order to try to make people lose weight without actually having to keep a healthy diet and exercise program.

It’s always something.  Some goofy quick-fix idea.  A while back it was Phen-Fen, Redux… basically legal crystal meth.  Then, when people started dropping dead from those medications (shocking!), Ephedra started becoming popular.  Or how about Olestra, that “fake fat” that was supposed to let you eat all the potato chips you wanted, because you couldn’t metabolize the fat!  It’s practically guilt- free calories!  Hurray!

Except, of course, for the orangish oily anal leakage that it caused.  But hey… easy weight loss!

Call me crazy, but I have a sinking feeling that manipulating critical enzymes with the intent of trying to re-activate tissue that has purposefully been lying dormant SINCE WE WERE INFANTS might… just might… be a bad idea.  Maybe it’s just the alarmist in me, but that course of action just MIGHT have unintended consequences.

Oh yes.  The last time we messed around with the COX-2 enzyme, it was called Celebrex.  Last I heard, a bunch of people started dropping dead of heart issues from taking that stuff…but hey!  It’ll be different this time!  Right?

Sure.  Or maybe you should just do it the old-fashioned way, by changing your diet and exercise habits from fatness habits, to fitness habits.  There is no quick fix, folks.  Stop chasing them.  Go back to the fundamentals, and train yourself to eat right and move.

Or end up a lab rat for the latest nitwit who thinks he’s outsmarted the human body.  Your choice.

Source:   http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1987987,00.html?xid=rss-health&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+time%2Fscienceandhealth+%28TIME%3A+Top+Science+and+Health+Stories%29