Mu:
Quoted message said:I don't see how
Quoted message said:you come up with "obesity is caused by the same thing that is causing a lot
of problems in other areas as well: excessive testosterone."
At what levels is testosterone excessive and in these days where food is
more plentiful, more food is eaten. How do you separate increased food
consumption, especially calorically dense foods, and the effect of
testosterone in adding (excessive) adipose tissue? If testosterone actually
precurses fat storage.
James Michael Howard said:MU, thank you for your response. If you, and anyone who is reading
this thread, are interested please read:
http://www.anthropogeny.com/Obesity%20Epidemic.htm and
http://www.anthropogeny.com/Increasing%20Obesity%20in%20Americans.htm
. Also, I refer you to the following, which was in my original post;
it has been removed from the current thread. "Testosterone is higher
in obese women. 'Only %free T was higher in obese than in nonobese
women (P = 0.02).' (Nutr Cancer. 2001;41(1-2):47-56)." (This abstract
is about breast cancer.)
Obesity is the often called the current "cause" of many diseases.
Obesity has been cited as a cause of heart disease, cancer, diabetes,
metabolic syndrome, etc. Many of these are increasing, including
obesity. Since I think a strong case may made that testosterone
causes increased obesity, then I extrapolate this to mean that
increasing testosterone is causing these. For example, testosterone
levels have been directly connected with breast cancer. "testosterone
might be more strongly associated with [breast cancer] risk than
estradiol." ( Journal of the National Cancer Institute (U.S.A.) 2002;
94: 606-616) and breast cancer is increasing parallel with the secular
trend. (I know; obesity has been called the cause of breast cancer.)
First, let me explain, as I did in my original post, that I think the
secular trend is caused by increases in the percentage of individuals
of higher testosterone within our population with time. This is
primarily driven by women of higher testosterone who, because of their
increased sex drive and reduced impulse control, reproduce faster than
women of lower testosterone. Now, you, like others, think increased
calorie consumption drives the secular trend. Well, as a biologist, I
see increased calories simply increasing reproduction; increased
calories does not cause the secular trend, increased calories simply
make it occur faster. Given more calories, individuals of higher
testosterone will increase faster than those of lower testosterone.
The hypothesis that increased calories causes the trend has been
around so long, and uncontested, that it is just accepted.
A way of separating this is to look at birth rates in black and white,
teen reproduction rates. The trend actually occurs more rapidly in
blacks than in whites (Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2000;154:155-161).
Blacks produce more testosterone than whites so this fits my
hypothesis. It may be countered that blacks have to eat the bad, high
caloric foods that whites are now privileged to not eat because of all
the wealth in the whites. Well, the problem is that there is another
sign that testosterone may be involved. There is currently a decline
in teen birth rate which is deeper in black teens. I have worked this
out in some detail and am able to show that when testosterone gets too
high, it impedes reproduction in females and males. Now, if it is
increased testosterone, this fits; if it is that diet, then it does
not fit. It is not increased calories, it is testosterone. If you
want to read this in detail:
http://www.anthropogeny.com/birth%20rate%20secular%20trend.htm .
Also, infections and infection rates of many infectious agents are
increasing. It is well known that testosterone and "maleness" reduce
the immune response. Here is a new example just out (2005):
"Collectively, our data indicate that the liver rather than the spleen
is a major target organ for testosterone-mediated suppression of
resistance against blood-stage malaria." (Infect Immun. 2005
Jan;73(1):436-43). There are others. I suggest the reason animal
viruses are penetrating humans now is because of increasing
testosterone throughout the world; for example HIV. (Males and
individuals of higher testosterone are more vulnerable to the HIV than
individuals of lower testosterone.) "Excessive" testosterone reduces
sperm count; the sperm count is beginning to decline throughout the
world. I cannot tell you exactly what "excessive" testosterone is; it
will vary individually according to levels of DHEA. However, I can
show a pattern of negative effects caused by testosterone, including
increasing obesity.
Also, my work is based around just a couple of hypotheses, not "lots
of hypotheses." I have applied my short list of hypotheses to lots of
applications. Remember "Occam's razor." (I invite you to read
"Hormones in Mammalian Evoution" and "Androgens in Human Evolution" at
www.anthropogeny.com/evolution.html .
Much appreciate the time you spent in answering Mu.
First let me say much of what you write I see logical, progressive thought.
It's very interesting.
What I read appears to be a string of thoughts (hypotheses) that sometimes
appear linked, sometimes not. You use the word extrapolation yourself. Not
that this is bad, mind you, but it is far from decisive. I'm sure you know
that and my feeling is that you are not trying to, necessarily, rewrite the
common "understandings" regarding obesity but open discussion to new
possibilities. Congrats if that is the case.
But I am troubled by sentences like this from your website.
"Testosterone reduces leptin. Leptin reduces appetite. Therefore, children
of higher testosterone have less appetite suppression.....Therefore,
overeating is increasing."
If T reduces L and L reduces A, why is it that increased T *increases* A?
Sorry, my biochem days as a "Rhodes scholar" are left somewhat in the dark
halls of ole Southwestern in Memphis.
Here is what I can add, empirically, to your hypotheses. I am an
umpire-in-chief, a strength trainer (mostly of athletes) and a private
military contractor (among other things).
You have often cited that black men and women have more T and, hence, more
babies. I can tell you that this elevation of T is evident in lessened
attention spans, higher sexual aggressiveness and a skewed sense of sexual
morality. Many black folks are umpires (in a predominantly white sport of
baseball) and I can tell you that, nearly to a one, if there are women in
the stands, black women, black umpires have the damndest time keeping
"alive" on the field. I have had to segregate black men and women athletes
from training at the same time for this very reason. On top of that, black
men who would be considered "good looking" gravitate to less attractive
white (especially white) and black women as if driven by some mysterious
sexual force. Black men and black women, side-by-side, in the Theater is a
disaster waiting to happen. It is a known, recognized and serious problem
especially in the Iraqi war front.
Being both from the South, I am sure you have heard the term "the breed"
used by older gen Southerners. What they are referring to is duofold. One,
blacks "breed" and having sexual intercourse more often and they appear to
be driven by this act of breeding.
This does not mean that socioeconomic issues are not in play in black
American populations. But I fully support, imo, the relationship yo have
set out regarding black (wo)men and T levels...and the ensuing results of
these elevated T levels.
Over to you.
