Production of sebum, the oily/waxy stuff secreted by sebaceous glands in the skin, can be modulated with a small protein. Some researchers at Penn couldn’t figure out how their treated mice were losing weight – they were eating more than usual and not excreting undigested food. Then they noticed that the mice were really greasy! It turns out the protein* increases lipid uptake from the blood by the sebaceous glands. The body in turn mobilizes fat from white adipose tissue and the liver. Which could have some affect on obesity-related disease.
No telling if this could be safe and useful for humans:
[S]afety is also an issue. In mice, TSLP injection caused immune cell infiltration in various organs, including the lung and liver. […] The effect of sebocyte hyperproliferation and copious quantities of sebum secretion is also unpredictable. For example, abundant comedogenic (skin pore blocking) fatty acids may trigger inflammatory reactions in skin sebaceous follicles, the “theater where the drama of acne is performed”, and imitate ectopic sebaceous glands such as the Meibomian glands of the eyelids, whose product is responsible for corneal protection.
*Thymic stromal lymphopoietin, a cytokine. I can’t tell you anything about it but the name
Apart from the fact that treatments in rodents often don’t translate to effectiveness in humans, I question whether people would be willing to lose weight in exchange for being so hyper-greasy that their clothes stain and they slide off bus seats onto the floor.
And then there’s the risk of a horrific case of acne due to sebum over-secretion…
Food companies thought they hit it big when they came up with Olestra, which tastes like fat, but is minimally absorbed due to the rotation of the molecules. All it took to derail this product commercially was the popularization of a crude description of how it works and its effects.
It’s actually because the sucrose backbone with 6-8 fatty acids is too big to be absorbed through your intestinal wall, vs the typical glycerol backbone with 3 fatty acids. So it stays and accumulates. And it’s liquid at body temperature.
I visited a company a few years back that had developed a similar product that doesn’t have the negative effects. But it wasn’t in any products at the time.
I still think there is an enormous market for such a product. However, they need to come up with an agreeable way of helping people expect the side effects. I miss the lower fat Pringles. For the modest amount I ate, I did not notice any harms. I suspect some of the folks who did ate larger quantities.
These were never approved in Canada. I used to happily drive to the States to stock up on them. If they were still available, I would buy them every week.
I wasn’t sure what info was public/proprietary but since the current IP-holders have it on their website, they’ve inserted a propoxyl between each fatty acid and the glycerol. The product is solid at body temperature. There’s probably some secret sauce re: mouthfeel. I tried the precommercial chocolate, which had swapped out maybe half the fat. It was fine, but I’m no chocolate snob.
Looks like you can fry with it (for the potato chip fans @Dr_Paprika@Qadgop_the_Mercotan ) but I didn’t see any actual products from a quick scan.
I can add my personal anecdote as a currently lactating person that lactation definitely increases hunger. By a lot. Sometimes I feel like I turn into the Hulk but with hunger instead of anger.
Yeah, La Leche told me, “no, you don’t have to drink more when you lactate, just drink when you are thirsty”. I was thirsty pretty constantly when I was nursing, and I was so hungry I gained a little weight.
I have concern for the eyes, imagine being temp or permanently blind because your eyes are covered in goop?
I might consider doing it on an inpatient gig as a guinea pig, but having had cancer [2 types in 1 year], diabetes and high blood pressure I am not healthy enough for anything experimental unless/until they are checking for doing it with comorbidities. And then as I said, strictly inpatient.
Food chemistry is a fascinating field which obviously depends on a lot of experimentation. I think huge amounts were invested in Olestra to show it had similar perception to the vegetable oil normally used and no really bad health effects. I am sure that there are many clever molecular substitutions and use of isomers that will be used in the future. I think Olestra should be renamed and remarketed and could still do very well if done so intelligently. (Explaining you do not absorb the fat and moderate quantities are best).
At the same time, I try to limit both frequency and portion size of snacks which are highly processed or not very healthy, with moderate success. The goal of allowing people to eat unlimited quantities of chaff is probably profitable. Still, I would prefer to see people choose veggies, nuts, some fruit, eggs, cheese, chocolate and such. I personally try to eat sugar less often but do not include organic sources. Many fats are healthy in moderation, and here I would justify small bags of chips. I’d rather eat quality chocolate than a bigger quantity of highly processed stuff even if low in effective calories. But tools are tools and progress is progress and if approved and available am keen to try these newfangled things. But not in bulk.
