Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

What made humans 'the fat primate'?
phys.org ^ | 06/26/2019 | Robin A. Smith, Duke University

Posted on 06/27/2019 10:54:12 AM PDT by BenLurkin

While other primates have less than 9% body fat, a healthy range for humans is anywhere from 14% to 31%.

Using a technique called ATAC-seq, they scanned each species' genome for differences in how their fat cell DNA is packaged.

Normally most of the DNA within a cell is condensed into coils and loops and tightly wound around proteins, such that only certain DNA regions are loosely packed enough to be accessible to the cellular machinery that turns genes on and off.

The researchers identified roughly 780 DNA regions that were accessible in chimps and macaques, but had become more bunched up in humans. Examining these regions in detail, the team also noticed a recurring snippet of DNA that helps convert fat from one cell type to another.

Not all fat is created equal... Most fat is made up of calorie-storing white fat. It's what makes up the marbling in a steak and builds up around our waistlines.

Specialized fat cells called beige and brown fat, on the other hand, can burn calories rather than store them to generate heat and keep us warm.

One of the reasons we're so fat, the research suggests, … is because the regions of the genome that help turn white fat to brown were essentially locked up...in humans but not in chimps.

Humans, like chimps, need fat to cushion vital organs, insulate us from the cold, and buffer us from starvation. But early humans may have needed to plump up for another reason, the researchers say—as an additional source of energy to fuel our growing, hungry brains.

The human brain uses more energy, pound for pound, than any other tissue. Steering fat cells toward calorie-storing white fat rather than calorie-burning brown fat, the thinking goes, would have given our ancestors a survival advantage.

(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...


TOPICS: Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: fat; sugar
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-86 next last
To: econjack

Did any of them involve a jerk store?


41 posted on 06/27/2019 11:33:56 AM PDT by gundog ( Hail to the Chief, bitches!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

How many other primates are cooking their meat?

Stupid premise from the start, IMO.


42 posted on 06/27/2019 11:35:52 AM PDT by airborne (I don't always scream at the TV but when I do it's hockey season!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

We learned to make any kind of food available any time of year.....then we ate it.
Oh yeah, we ate it.


43 posted on 06/27/2019 11:35:58 AM PDT by right way right (May we remain sober over mere men, for God really is our only true hope.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin
What made humans 'the fat primate'?

High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Most people weren't fat when foods contained actual sugar.

44 posted on 06/27/2019 11:37:27 AM PDT by ChicagahAl (I am Henry Bowman. You should be, too.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

What made humans 'the fat primate'?


45 posted on 06/27/2019 11:37:36 AM PDT by COBOL2Java (AOC: The brain of a tea bisquit)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: taterjay

Right. Animals can have the best genes in the world, but if they adopt a modern human lifestyle, they’ll get obese just like us.


46 posted on 06/27/2019 11:38:07 AM PDT by Boogieman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: COBOL2Java

Wouldn’t that make goats and bunnies fat?


47 posted on 06/27/2019 11:39:41 AM PDT by null and void (Stamp out philately!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

In a word, bacon.


48 posted on 06/27/2019 11:40:25 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Steely Tom

Nutella™, white peopls’s Kryptonite.


49 posted on 06/27/2019 11:41:16 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: null and void
Wouldn’t that make goats and bunnies fat?

If goats and bunnies had sentience and free will, with a dose of Original Sin, absolutely.

50 posted on 06/27/2019 11:45:24 AM PDT by COBOL2Java (AOC: The brain of a tea bisquit)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

Brains. The smarter the easier the lazier the fatter.


51 posted on 06/27/2019 11:45:35 AM PDT by BradyLS (DO NOT FEED THE BEARS!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

um- have ya seen primates? Many have ‘beer guts’ times 10


52 posted on 06/27/2019 11:52:33 AM PDT by Bob434
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Hot Tabasco

Our intelligence ... it allows us to make fatteni g items that donot occur in nature.


53 posted on 06/27/2019 11:56:17 AM PDT by BunnySlippers (I Love Bull Markets!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Cowboy Bob

I was going to say SNAP!!!!

Lately in the 15 or less aisle, they are buying up the snacks for summer days!! Mom’s are larger than size 12 and in their 20’s... The last two times I went to the grocery, I have had THREE mothers buying SNAP snacks- loaded with sugar and carbs. Last one got into a nice pick up truck that was about 4 years old. We have to wait to buy a truck so they can eat...think about that!!!


54 posted on 06/27/2019 12:35:20 PM PDT by YouGoTexasGirl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

babies have more. body-fat than grown-ups, and their brains are very actively developing.

Reminds me of a picture I saw of Thomas Edison next to Geronimo, as grown men. The latter was lean, hard, fully developed, and confident. Edison, was soft, pale, and had the open look of an innocent baby. Modern people who learn a lot throughout life are more like Edison, the softy, than Geronimo, the manly man. It doesn’t make a man look very handsome, but it made Edison pretty wealthy, iirc.

“unless we become like little children, we will not see the Kingdom of God.”


55 posted on 06/27/2019 12:39:26 PM PDT by married21 ( As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

The ability to grill. And chips and salsa


56 posted on 06/27/2019 12:41:19 PM PDT by smvoice (I WILL NOT WEAR THE RIBBONndering)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

The human fat gene looks just like a Cheeto.


57 posted on 06/27/2019 1:15:57 PM PDT by bgill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: null and void; gr8eman

There are 10 types of people in the world. Those who understand binary and those who don’t. gr8eman is the latter kind.


58 posted on 06/27/2019 1:17:26 PM PDT by LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget (TRUMP TRAIN !!! Get the hell out of the way if you are not on yet because we don't stop for idiots)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: bgill

Or a krispy kreme.

CC


59 posted on 06/27/2019 1:30:03 PM PDT by Celtic Conservative (My cats are more amusing than 200 channels worth of TV)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 57 | View Replies]

To: Spruce

*** “Beer” ***

How Beer Saved the World!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcLasNk4i-c

(Right up there with “Lonesome Dove” for an annual Must Watch)


60 posted on 06/27/2019 1:48:37 PM PDT by TexasTransplant (Damn the Torpedoes! Full Speed Ahead!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-86 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson