Mice on high-fat diet grow four times as many cells in one part of the brain Change occurs in weeks Mice with new cells put on more weight than others - even if both are on high-fat diet Growth of 'tanycyte' cells - also found in humans

By Rob Waugh

PUBLISHED: 09:52 EST, 26 March 2012 | UPDATED: 09:52 EST, 26 March 2012

Cream tea? High-fat diets pile on weight around the midriff - but in mice at least, they seem to cause 'growth' inside the brain

High-fat diets pile on weight around the midriff - but in mice at least, they also seem to cause 'growth' inside the brain.

Sadly, a diet of cheeseburgers won't make you more intelligent - the new cells trigger weight gain.

Mice with the new cells packed on weight far faster than other mice - even when both were on the same high-fat diet.

The finding could offer an insight into how the brain controls weight gain through eating and hunger.

It could even open new avenues into understanding the factors that trigger obesity.

It's not clear whether the same process is at work in humans - but if so, the finding could also offer an avenue for anti-obesity treatments.

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Eating fatty foods makes the brain GROW - but the new cells seem to tell the body to put on even more weight

Chickpea crepes, coming soon to a kitchen near you. iPhone photo by Rebekah Denn

I know it's early to be making trend lists for 2012, but it seems everywhere I look lately I'm seeing socca, a French chickpea crepe.

You can find socca on the menu at Bastille, but I'm not seeing it show up at restaurants so much as in the kitchens of friends. It's popular among those who need to eat gluten-free meals, and with the increasing numbers of people I see on anti-inflammatory diets. Expat and dessert chef extraordinaire David Lebovitz might have planted the seeds a few years back with his post on making socca at home, where he sold us by saying that the street food from Nice "is meant to be in rough shards, eaten with your fingers, and is especially good after a long day on a sun-saturated beach when your skin is tingling with sand and you can lick your lips and taste the sand of the Mediterranean."

My friends haven't waxed quite so eloquent, but they've been relieved to find a simple food that supports their diets, from a crackery crunch in the thinner versions to a thicker soft crepe.

I gave it a try with this tomato-onion topped version from Yotam Ottolenghi's book "Plenty," which is winning raves of its own nationwide. (With the eggs and dairy, it doesn't work with all my friends' diets, but it worked for mine.) I used garbanzo bean flour from Bob's Red Mill, which is widely available at supermarkets, and it was a piece of -- well, not cake, but at least crepe.

Socca

Serves 4

2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved 5 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for drizzling 1 3/4 pounds white onions, cut into thin rings 2 tablespoons thyme leaves salt and black pepper 1/2 teaspoon white wine vinegar 1 3/4 cups chickpea flour 2 cups water 2 egg whites creme fraiche to serve

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Spread the tomatoes cut-side up on a small baking pan and sprinkle them with some salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. Roast for 25 minutes or until semi-cooked. They are not supposed to dry out completely. (Note: After 25 minutes we turned up the heat to 300, as ours didn't seem cooked enough.)

Meanwhile, heat 4 tablespoons olive oil in a large frying pan. Add the onions, thyme, and some salt and pepper, and cook on high heat, stirring for about a minute. Reduce the heat to low and continue cooking for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. You want the onions completely soft, sweet and golden brown but not very dark. At the end, stir in the vinegar, then taste and adjust the seasoning.

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Socca to me: The next food trend?

(CBS News) Dara-Lynn Weiss' daughter, Bea, had become a statistic. At 4-foot, 4 inches and 93 pounds, the 7-year-old had become obese. So, the Vogue columnist did what she knew best: She put Bea on a strict diet.

"One day Bea came home from school in tears, confessing that a boy at school had called her fat. The incident crushed me, but it was a wake-up call. Being overweight is not a private struggle. Everyone can see it," Weiss wrote in the April 2012 issue of Vogue.

VIDEO: 12-year-old teaches town to lose weight Bullied boy loses 85 lbs., inspires others to lose

Weiss wrote she decided to enroll her daughter into a "Red Light, Green Light" diet program. The mother detailed her struggle to keep Bea fit and how she turned to such tactics as making her go without dinner after she celebrated French heritage day at school, banning her from participating in "pizza Fridays" and publicly admonishing her cravings in front of others. In the end Bea lost 16 pounds in one year, but it has left many wondering whether the harsh and berating treatment worth the weight loss.

While Bea's weight loss was impressive, some experts say that Weiss went about it all in the wrong way. Dr. Joanna Dolgoff, who runs the Red Light, Green Light, Eat Right program that Bea enrolled in, confirmed to HealthPop that Bea's weight made her considered obese, and said she respected and understood why Weiss was so strict because of the difficulty of the situation.

But, Dolgoff insisted that Weiss' methods were not the intention of her program. The traffic light-based diet system revolves around teaching kids healthy eating habits, so they can be in charge of their diet plans.

"We want to empower these kids," Dolgoff said. "Studies show that if you treat overweight kids in a sensitive manner, you do decrease emotional problems."

Dolgoff said that the Weiss stopped going to the counseling sessions halfway through the program and Bea and her mother didn't get the emotional support they needed. The Red Light program ultimately allows the child to make the decisions, and even if the kid slips up and eats something that is unhealthy, parents are advised to let them do it.

"Their emotional health is extremely important, and that's what we talk a lot about in the visit," Dolgoff said. "We don't want them thinking they've been bad. We explain it's hard to be healthy in our society when they put supersized everything in front of you."

Childhood obesity is a society problem in the U.S. According to the Center of Disease Control, between 1980 and 2008 the percentage of children aged 6 to 11 who were obese has risen 14 percent, and for those 12 to 19 years it has gone up 13 percent. More than one third of children and adolescents are overweight or obese.

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Should 7-year-olds be put on strict diets? Vogue article sparks debate

Dr Dukan, 70, whose high-protein regime was used by Carole Middleton and is said to have been used by her daughter the Duchess, is accused of offering potentially dangerous advice that could breach the French medical ethics code.

Dr Dukan faces disciplinary action or being struck off the medical register if found guilty and has a month to respond to the complaints.

Yesterday, his lawyer said he would happily provide his observations to the ethics council, arguing that his proposals were part of a doctors right to freedom of expression.

The fact that his work doesnt leave the public indifferent is proof that it highlights a major public health issue, said Isabelle Lucas-Baloup, adding that a summons does not amount to a conviction.

Dr Dukan, who has sold eight million copies of his diet book worldwide, made his ideal weight exam option proposal in his book An Open Letter to the Future President.

At its launch, he said: There is nothing unhealthy about educating youngsters about nutrition.

My idea would change nothing for those who have no need to get thinner. But for those who do, it would only motivate them to lose weight.

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Dukan Diet doctor faces ethics charge

NEW ORLEANS, LA--(Marketwire -03/26/12)- Americans looking to lose weight want diet food companies to hold the preservatives according to a recent survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of GenoVive, a new weight management program that uses genetic analysis as the foundation of customized weight loss programs. The January survey of more than 2,500 adults ages 18 and older found that two out of three people surveyed (67%) would prefer that their diet foods include only all-natural ingredients without preservatives and not processed foods with other potentially harmful chemicals and additives.

"Additives such as preservatives, antibiotics, hormones, and a variety of new-to-nature components appear to negatively impact the quality of our food and potentially negatively impact our bodies," said Dr. Ruth DeBusk, PhD, RD, who is a geneticist, molecular biologist and clinical dietitian in practice in Tallahassee, Florida, and a member of GenoVive's Scientific Advisory Board.

The survey also showed that women are significantly more likely than men to prefer diet foods with all natural ingredients, with 71% of women making this choice over 63% of men.

"With women making many of the critical decisions about food in American households, it comes as no surprise that women in particular are demanding better ingredients for their diet needs and overall food choices for their families," said Dr. DeBusk. "Diet foods that are laden with additives actually work against us by disrupting the body's natural tendencies. They make the challenge of losing weight and keeping it off even more difficult."

Beverly Swango, nutritionist and director of product development at GenoVive, cautions against the proliferation of food additives in the foods we eat that exceed reasonable amounts each day.

"It's unfortunate, but today, most diet foods as well as a startling number of food items found in our supermarkets contain additives and chemicals that trigger unwanted reactions in our cells and in our genes," said Swango.

According to Swango, most consumers realize that the BPA found in water bottles is harmful yet some of the most-unsuspecting foods also contain additives. "Tortilla wraps contain anti-microbials while nutrient bars for diabetics include titanium dioxide. While some additives are considered safe in trace amounts, over time there can be cumulative effect that can have significant negative impact on consumer health. At GenoVive, we only use 'real food' that the body was designed to metabolize."

About GenoVive LLC

Founded in 2008, GenoVive, a division of Genvis Bio Group, LLC, based in New Orleans, LA, represents a new approach to weight loss and sustained healthy eating. GenoVive's geneticists and food scientists developed customized, all-natural meal and exercise programs, featuring ideal combinations of macronutrients based on individual DNA. GenoVive is sold directly to the consumer at GenoVive.com and by phone with convenient home delivery. Follow GenoVive on Twitter @myGenovive, Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/GenoVive, and YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/GenoVivednadiet.

Survey Methodology

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Hold the Butylated Hydroxyanisole: GenoVive Survey Reveals Adults Prefer Diet Food Without a Side Order of Preservatives

In a controversial article appearing in the April issue of Vogue magazine, author Dara-Lynn Weiss writes about the strict diet she imposed upon her daughter after a pediatrician suggested she was clinically obese.

Bea, who stood 4-feet, 4-inches tall, weighed 93 pounds was not necessarily obese, but fat, according to Weiss, who admits to having issues with food for the past 30 years.

- Dara-Lynn Weiss, writing for Vogue Magazine

Growing up in an affluent, achievement-driven suburb, I had suffered through my own issues with food, eating and weight, Weiss wrote. Though the rest of my family had a seemingly healthy relationship to food, I was constantly battling weight gain and asking my mother to lock-up the peanut butter jar. Whether I weighed 105 pounds or 145 pounds hardly mattered. I hated how my body looked and devoted an inordinate amount of time to trying to change it.

Weiss added that she once even begged a doctor to write her a prescription for appetite suppressant fen-phen, even after it was found to cause heart valve defects and pulmonary hypertension.

Weiss article talks about the increase in childhood obesity in todays society and cites a survey that revealed parents are more comfortable talking to their kids about sex than weight.

The author admitted she wasnt very consistent with how she served Bea food sometimes Beas after school snack was a slice of pizza or a chicken gyro from a street vendor. Other days I forced her to choose low-fat soup or a single hard-boiled egg. Occasionally, Id give in to her pleas for a square of coffee cake, mainly because I wanted to eat half of it.

Starting the diet

When a kid at school called Bea fat and made her cry, Weiss took matters into her own hands, scheduling an appointment with child-obesity specialist Dr. Joanna Dolgoff, who assigns a red light to bad foods and green light to good foods. Weiss said she joined her daughter in dieting, and the two embarked upon a low-fat, low-cal, and reduced-portion diet.

Bea had to start exercising too she joined karate and in the summer, swam once a week.

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Mother’s strict diet for 7-year-old raises controversy, criticism

26 March 2012 Last updated at 11:50 ET

The founder of the controversial Dukan Diet, Dr Pierre Dukan, faces an ethics hearing after suggesting children could pass a new exam by staying thin.

The French College of Physicians says he breached medical guidelines that say doctors must consider the impact of their comments on the public.

He faces a disciplinary hearing within six months, and could be struck off.

His diet, said to be followed by some celebrities, recommends avoiding starch and carbohydrates.

Some nutritionists say it can be dangerous.

In January, Dr Dukan sparked controversy in France when he said the Baccalaureate exam should include a new anti-obesity option, which 17-year-old children would pass just by staying within recommended weight guidelines.

The College of Physicians said this could have a negative impact on young girls who are already overweight or anorexic.

The College said in a second complaint that Dr Dukan was focused more on commerce than medicine, in breach of a part of its code that says medicine must not be practised like a business.

And the body also said his best-selling diet books meant he was neglecting medicine.

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Dukan diet guru on ethics charge