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            MEMBERSHIP PERIOD:OCTOBER 1    -    SEPTEMBER 30

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Congratulations. Awesome work.

----- Original Message -----
From: Joe Brewoo <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tuesday, December 4, 2007 1:35 pm
Subject: UW-Madison News Release--High-Carb Weight Gain Linked to Gene
To: [log in to unmask]


> ***********************************************************
> 
>                RENEW YOUR ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP WITH AAM!!!!
> 
>        SEND A CHECK FOR $25 TO AAM, P. O. Box 1016, MADISON, WI 53701
> 
>             MEMBERSHIP PERIOD:OCTOBER 1    -    SEPTEMBER 30
> 
>         AAM NEW YEAR'S EVE DINNER/GALA   -   DECEMBER 31, 2007
> 
> ***********************************************************
> 
> 
> Prof. Ntambi is from Uganda and was the Guest Speaker at AAM's 2007 
> Graduation Program.
>  
> Joe
>  
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE12/4/07PHOTO EDITORS: High-resolution images are 
> available at 
> http://www.news.wisc.edu/newsphotos/SCD-1_gene.htmlCONTACT: James 
> Ntambi, (608) 265-3700, [log in to unmask] GROWTH ON 
> HIGH-CARB DIETS LINKED TO LIVER GENEMADISON - Experts have been 
> warning for years that foods loaded with high-fructose corn syrup and 
> other processed carbohydrates are making us fatter. Now, a University 
> of Wisconsin-Madison study has uncovered the genetic basis for why 
> this is so.Writing in the December issue of Cell Metabolism, a team 
> led by biochemistry and nutritional sciences professor James Ntambi 
> reports that a gene in the liver, called SCD-1, is what causes mice to 
> gain weight on a diet laden with carbohydrates. The gene encodes the 
> enzyme SCD, whose job is to synthesize fatty acids that are a major 
> component of fat.When the scientists fed a starch- and sugar-rich diet 
> to mice lacking SCD-1 in the liver, the extra carbohydrates were 
> broken down rather than being converted into fat and stored - keeping 
> the mice skinny. Meanwhile, control mice with normal gene activity 
> grew plump on the same food."It looks like the SCD gene in the liver 
> is responsible for causing weight gain in response to a 
> high-carbohydrate diet, because when we take away the gene's activity 
> the animals no longer gain the weight," says Ntambi. "These findings 
> are telling us that the liver is a key tissue in mediating weight gain 
> induced by excess carbohydrates."The results could have implications 
> for stemming the skyrocketing obesity problem in people, Ntambi adds. 
> He explains that people pack on pounds in two ways, one of which is to 
> eat extra fat, which then accumulates in adipose, or fat, tissue. But 
> the main cause of weight gain is excess carbohydrates, because they 
> trigger the body to produce new fat. Blocking SCD's action in the 
> liver could therefore offer another means to help people lose weight, 
> Ntambi says, especially since obese people appear to have higher 
> levels of the enzyme than do thin people."We think that obese 
> individuals, in general, may have higher SCD activity in both the 
> liver and in adipose tissue," he says. "So, they may have a higher 
> capability of converting carbohydrate into fat."High-carbohydrate 
> diets have become exceedingly common not only in western nations but 
> also in the developing world, as sugary ingredients such as 
> high-fructose corn syrup have crept into all sorts of processed foods, 
> including soft drinks, baked goods, condiments - even supposedly 
> healthy items such as low-fat, fruit yogurt. What Ntambi's team has 
> now demonstrated is how those diets can act directly on a gene to 
> boost fat synthesis and storage."This is a very good example of a 
> diet-gene interaction," he says.The current study builds on previous 
> work, in which Ntambi and his colleagues created mice that lacked 
> SCD-1 everywhere in the body, including the liver, muscle, brain, 
> pancreas and adipose tissue. No matter how much they ate, the mice 
> didn't gain weight on either a high-fat or a high-carbohydrate diet. 
> "But it was very difficult to tell which tissue was responsible for 
> the effect," says Ntambi.To tease this out, he and his colleagues 
> subsequently bred mice that lacked SCD-1 in the liver only and placed 
> them on either a high-fat diet or a high-carbohydrate, low-fat one. 
> Much to their surprise, the mice on the high-fat diet gained weight 
> just as quickly as normal, control mice."This suggests that in weight 
> gain induced by a high-fat diet, other tissues beyond the liver are 
> involved," says Ntambi. In contrast, the mice stayed thin when they 
> feasted on food heavy in starch and table sugar, or sucrose. They were 
> also protected from the condition known as fatty liver. Ntambi thinks 
> what's happening is that in the absence of SCD, the liver has no way 
> to convert surplus carbohydrates into fat, causing the body to break 
> them down instead. The findings also highlight the central role of the 
> enzyme and its main product, a fatty acid known as oleic acid, in 
> overall carbohydrate metabolism, he adds. For example, mice lacking 
> SCD could no longer make glucose - the sugar burned by cells for 
> energy - leading to abnormally low blood sugar levels, or 
> hypoglycemia. They also weren't able to make glycogen, a short-term 
> storage form of glucose. "It looks to us that if you don't have enough 
> oleic acid - which the SCD enzyme makes - then the carbohydrate does 
> not proceed through normal glucose metabolism," says Ntambi. As 
> further evidence of this, when the scientists supplemented the mouse 
> diets with oleic acid, normal metabolism was restored.In both mice and 
> people, on the other hand, eating lots of carbohydrate appears to 
> boost SCD activity, leading to a glut of oleic acid, increased fat 
> storage - and, over time, obesity. "Too much carbohydrate is not 
> good," says Ntambi. "That's basically what we are saying."Ntambi's 
> study was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the 
> American Heart Association.###- Madeline Fisher, (608) 890-0465, [log in to unmask]
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