Stopping Carbs Converting To Fat

[Neuroprotection]

Because this post is so long, I have put my questions at the beginning incase people get deterred by the background information.
1 ? What is the current status of Fatostatin? Does anyone think it will be approved soon?
2 ? Why have fatty Acid Synthase inhibitors not been seriously considered for obesity, apart from metabolic syndrome. All studies I have read which do consider it, blatantly ignore impacts on body weight, some saying it is not very important. How stupid!?
3 How usefull, and what are the potential consequence?s of using non selective ACC inhibitors in humans to block weight gain.
4 although long term use of any one of the drugs mentioned above is unadvisable given their interference with metabolism, could they be diploid in times of huge junk food binges to prevent dramatic fat gain?

Although there is controversy surrounding the extent to and process by which Carbohydrates are converted to fat it is undeniable that eating carbs in excess will cause fat gain. The process is called DE novo lipogenesis. Some highly regarded scientific studies try to claim the modern day obesity crisis is not due to this process but rather, a high carb and high fat combination as occurs in processed food cause the body to stor dietary fat as it prefers to use carbs for energy. It is argued that a high Carb very low fat diat alone giving equivalent calories would not lead to the same fat gain. I am now curious about what such findings mean for the average person. Could it partly explain why, I remained under weight as a child despite consume massive amounts of sugar in the form of sweets, fizzy drinks/energy drinks, 4/8 spoons of sugar in tea and around 8 slices of toast with excess huny for breakfast. Interestingly I used to hate fatty foods e.g. read meat, butter, cheese and other greasy foods. However, I still believe, as do most experts, no matter how inefficient de novo lipogenesis, in the long term it is a massively important factor in weight gain.

 

[RedRum OG]

Most of that is way over my head and I wish I could contribute more to the scientific side of this discussion.

What I can add is anecdotal evidence about human behavior. If there were a drug that could mitigate fat gain by carbs, it likely wouldn't have much affect on the weight of people who are already obese. There is a drug like this for fat, that stops its absorption. I forget the name. But There are hundreds of stories of obese people who use this drug, compensate by eating boatloads of unhealthy food anyways, and continue to do this despite the fact that they regularly have diarrhea in their clothes and in public places, because of the GI havoc this drug causes.

Tl;Dr, this is a very cool idea, but imho, it would make little difference in people with unhealthy dating habits, who are probably the ones this drug would be targeting

 

[Neuroprotection]

Thanks for the contribution. You make a good point about the importance of human dietary behaviour in obesity. The fat blocking drug your thinking of is orlistat, a pancreatic lipase inhibitor that reduces absorption of fat by around 30%. Ironically it shouldn’t be taken with high fat meals due to the induction of the severe diarrhea you mentioned. On the other hand, the compounds I am referring to do not prevent absorption of any nutrient and don’t affect the GI tract at all. Rather they actually break a chain of enzyme catalysed metabolic reactions that transform excess carbs, and in some cases amino acids and alcohol into fatty acids. These fatty acids are then quickly joined to glycerol to make body fat. Breaking this enzyme chain, not only prevents fat formation, but triggers rapid fat burning and dramatically increases resting metabolic rate, resulting in serious and sustained weight loss in the face of massive caloric surplus. It is true that such drugs if successful would encourage unhealthy eating but I think they could be greate for short periods of time to treat those suicidal or severely depressed about their weight.