Skip to main content

The locust position — why protein can make us thinner - National

The locust position — why protein can make us thinner - National

The locust position — why protein can make us thinner

*
* Email
* Print
* Normal font
* Large font

By Graeme O'neill
November 6, 2005
Page 1 of 2
AdvertisementAdvertisement

AN EMINENT Australian scientist has looked at locust behaviour to explain the growing obesity epidemic, leading him to support a high-protein diet as its solution.

Professor Stephen Simpson believes a primal appetite for protein drives the feeding behaviour of all animals, from locusts, beetles and spiders to vertebrates, including humans.

According to their "protein leverage hypothesis", University of Sydney entomologist Professor Simpson and colleague Dr David Raubenheimer at the University of Auckland suggest CSIRO's controversial "Total Wellbeing Diet" — criticised by some nutritionists for its high meat content — is "just about right".

"The fact that people lose weight on the diet and find it relatively easy to comply with is due to the power of protein to drive food intake," Professor Simpson said. "People stop eating when they satisfy their protein requirements."
[...]

The former professor of entomology at Oxford University, who returned to Australia last year under the Federal Government's "brain gain" scheme, has strong experimental and epidemiological evidence for his hypothesis, from his research at Oxford on voracious African locusts.

"Nutrition science has been virtually devoid of theory," he said. "Despite all the experimental work, and many hypotheses, a conceptual framework has been singularly lacking."

Professor Simpson's hypothesis explains why radical and yo-yo dieting doesn't work. It also explains why members of former hunter-gatherer cultures such as Australia's Aborigines are susceptible to obesity and type II diabetes after switching to a low-protein Western diet.

His insight came from an experiment in which he starved locusts of protein, instead giving them a high-fat, high-carbohydrate diet. The insects gorged themselves in a vain attempt to satiate their hunger for protein. In another experiment, protein-starved locusts "zeroed in like missiles" on high-protein foods. Simpson said feeding experiments his team conducted on beetles and spiders at Oxford University (published in the journal Science earlier this year) support his idea that the requirement for protein drives and dominates the feeding behaviour of all animals, from lowly nematode worms to insects and vertebrates.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Insulin Resistance- cause of ADD, diabetes, narcolepsy, etc etc

Insulin Resistance Insulin Resistance Have you been diagnosed with clinical depression? Heart disease? Type II, or adult, diabetes? Narcolepsy? Are you, or do you think you might be, an alcoholic? Do you gain weight around your middle in spite of faithfully dieting? Are you unable to lose weight? Does your child have ADHD? If you have any one of these symptoms, I wrote this article for you. Believe it or not, the same thing can cause all of the above symptoms. I am not a medical professional. I am not a nutritionist. The conclusions I have drawn from my own experience and observations are not rocket science. A diagnosis of clinical depression is as ordinary as the common cold today. Prescriptions for Prozac, Zoloft, Wellbutrin, etc., are written every day. Genuine clinical depression is a very serious condition caused by serotonin levels in the brain. I am not certain, however, that every diagnosis of depression is the real thing. My guess is that about 10 percent of the people taking

Could Narcolepsy be caused by gluten? :: Kitchen Table Hypothesis

Kitchen Table Hypothesis from www.zombieinstitute.net - Heidi's new site It's commonly known that a severe allergy to peanuts can cause death within minutes. What if there were an allergy that were delayed for hours and caused people to fall asleep instead? That is what I believe is happening in people with Narcolepsy. Celiac disease is an allergy to gliadin, a specific gluten protein found in grains such as wheat, barley and rye. In celiac disease the IgA antigliadin antibody is produced after ingestion of gluten. It attacks the gluten, but also mistakenly binds to and creates an immune reaction in the cells of the small intestine causing severe damage. There is another form of gluten intolerance, Dermatitis Herpetiformis, in which the IgA antigliadin bind to proteins in the skin, causing blisters, itching and pain. This can occur without any signs of intestinal damage. Non-celiac gluten sensitivity is a similar autoimmune reaction to gliadin, however it usually involves the

Blue-blocking Glasses To Improve Sleep And ADHD Symptoms Developed

Blue-blocking Glasses To Improve Sleep And ADHD Symptoms Developed Scientists at John Carroll University, working in its Lighting Innovations Institute, have developed an affordable accessory that appears to reduce the symptoms of ADHD. Their discovery also has also been shown to improve sleep patterns among people who have difficulty falling asleep. The John Carroll researchers have created glasses designed to block blue light, therefore altering a person's circadian rhythm, which leads to improvement in ADHD symptoms and sleep disorders. […] How the Glasses Work The individual puts on the glasses a couple of hours ahead of bedtime, advancing the circadian rhythm. The special glasses block the blue rays that cause a delay in the start of the flow of melatonin, the sleep hormone. Normally, melatonin flow doesn't begin until after the individual goes into darkness. Studies indicate that promoting the earlier release of melatonin results in a marked decline of ADHD symptoms. Bett