Is central heating responsible for the current obesity probl

21 Nov 2009

Or at least partly responsible?
Chatting with my Mum she told me that a typical Sunday tea for the two of them was half a loaf of bread in sandwiches, scones, and basically loads of carbs with spreads etc. Midweek meals were pies, mash, crumbles and such. They didn't put weight on. Mum was a secretary and Dad was a clerk - not high energy jobs at all.
So what was different? Why can't I eat more than a round of sandwiches without knowing it'll pile the weight on? Central heating and driving rather than bus and walk. But I really think that central heating is a major contributor. I know people don't want to be uncomfortable, but maybe it's worth thinking about - mammals are hot blooded - they make their own heat from the food they eat. Maybe we should turn the heat down and enjoy our food more.
Anyway - spending money heating a house until it's so warm you can walk about in t-shirt and bare feet is a choice fewer and fewer of us can afford to make. I rarely have my heating on - and have a special warm top I put on when I come home. Trying to keep my costs down. Maybe it means I can eat more. biggrin

:D:D:D:D:D:D

21 Nov 2009

Would be interested to see if there is any scientific evidence to support this.
Personally I think it has nothing to do with it.....unless anyone knows different?

21 Nov 2009

Interesting theory. wink

21 Nov 2009

Or is it possible that people can/will look for an excuse?

21 Nov 2009

Quote by kentswingers777
Or is it possible that people can/will look for an excuse?

I don't know; I'm fat and I never have my heating on very much. wink

21 Nov 2009

Maybe fat people do not feel the cold as much? lol

21 Nov 2009

It seems logical that, given the same food input, having to heat your own body as well as move/breathe/think should burn more calories than not having to create heat.
Calorie - by the way - is a unit of heat, not fat. Gas has a calorific value which tells the gas people how much heat you can expect to get out of it. If our body burns (guessing here) 10% of the calories in a meal generating the heat in our body, it can't convert that 10% of the meal into fat. If we don't burn it - it will turn into fat. That's how we are designed - food is either burned or stored, burn more = store less.
I'm still hunting for any scientific journals abou tit - as opposed to diet/central heating organisations who are obviously going to be a toucvh biassed.

21 Nov 2009

I'm sure that a calorie is a unit of energy. Both my grandmothers were small and fat and neither of them had central heating.
I believe that obesity is due to our diet and sedentary lifestyle. To follow your theory , should humans living in the hotter regions of the our planet not be bigger than those living in colder climates?

21 Nov 2009

Quote by Max777
I'm sure that a calorie is a unit of energy. Both my grandmothers were small and fat and neither of them had central heating.
I believe that obesity is due to our diet and sedentary lifestyle. To follow your theory , should humans living in the hotter regions of the our planet not be bigger than those living in colder climates?

I'm sure it's much more complicated, as you say. Factors like - being used to the environment, how much exercise, how much food and what kind will have an effect on a person's size - but I do believe that the need to keep warm is one factor with the others.
The point being I suppose that a person wishing to lose weight might benefit from a cooler house. Someone needing to put weight on or recovering from an illness, may benefit from making sure the house is warm. I've been in houses that are stifling - and that in itself may be a bit unhealthy too. biggrin

Just to complicate matters :D:D:D

21 Nov 2009

Think you peeps need to see the thread in the current issues about weight....I cannot see anything related to central heating, only scientific things about losing and gaining weight.

21 Nov 2009

Quote by kentswingers777
Think you peeps need to see the thread in the current issues about weight....I cannot see anything related to central heating, only scientific things about losing and gaining weight.

Interesting. Does the existance of that thread invalidate my/our comments? Or does it just indtcate that heating as a possible factor in weight loss/gain hasn't come up as part of that conversation?
I'm not sure what your point is.

21 Nov 2009

Quote by kentswingers777
Think you peeps need to see the thread in the current issues about weight....I cannot see anything related to central heating, only scientific things about losing and gaining weight.

Have seen it Kenty.......my eyes glazed over well before the end wink

21 Nov 2009

well if central heating has anything to do with weight gain then its also possible that global warming is achieving the same thing. I suppose if you stuff your face and sit in an overheated house or planet, you are more likely to gain weight.
But generally I think its to do with having more than enough and thinking it has to be consumed. That the sight of a supermarket full of food gives us an unrealistic longing to eat more.
The lack of exercise and the availability of snacky, weight forming foods.
Silly chef programmes on tv which either trivialise the importance of a good diet, or put people off trying to make decent food.

21 Nov 2009

don t think heating makes u fat..........
a bar man gets a beer belly drinking beer....
a bus driver over the yrs get fat sitting all day....
a farmer out in the fields seem to stay slim...
a rd worker stays the same....
think its the job u do to how yr body responds....
if u indoors n cold n wrap yr self up to keep warm n eat u will get fat..
unless u run it off.

21 Nov 2009

Quote by foxylady2209
Think you peeps need to see the thread in the current issues about weight....I cannot see anything related to central heating, only scientific things about losing and gaining weight.

Interesting. Does the existance of that thread invalidate my/our comments? Or does it just indtcate that heating as a possible factor in weight loss/gain hasn't come up as part of that conversation?
I'm not sure what your point is.
My point is....central heating does not make you fat, that is my opinion.
Eating too much and sitting down all day will make you fat, not how high your room temperature is.:jagsatwork:

21 Nov 2009

Quote by john469
either extreme heat or cold will make you use more calories as your body tries to cool you down or warm you up; but there is not much in it either way.
However, the key term is 'extreme' ie: sweating like a mad cunt, or shivering like a shitting dog.
For most folks, being sat in comfy warm or cool ambient home wont make much difference overall.

And seeing his knowledge on things, that's good enough for me.

21 Nov 2009

Quote by kentswingers777
Think you peeps need to see the thread in the current issues about weight....I cannot see anything related to central heating, only scientific things about losing and gaining weight.

Interesting. Does the existance of that thread invalidate my/our comments? Or does it just indtcate that heating as a possible factor in weight loss/gain hasn't come up as part of that conversation?
I'm not sure what your point is.
My point is....central heating does not make you fat, that is my opinion.
Eating too much and sitting down all day will make you fat, not how high your room temperature is.:jagsatwork:
My original point was that it could be a contributaryfactor. Your internal heat - yes YOURS kenty - same as everyone else's, comes partly from the calories you eat and partly from any external heat there happens to be. Therefore, not needing to use some of those calories for internal heating will result in those same calories being depositied as fat. That is the only 2 things that happen to calories in your body - unless you s''t them out. I don't think anyone gets fat purely from having central heating - I am saying that, all else being equal (exercise level, food input), heating reduces the amount of calories burned and therefore increases the number of calories available to be stored as fat.
I am curious just how much of a contribution it makes. But to say there can be NO contribution is rather absolutist - especially without evidence either way.
Just remember - arctic explorers have ZERO external heat available to them (actually more like -40) and yet they manage to maintain a +37 deg C core temperature on FOOD ALONE. Proof, I would say, that food makes heat. We also know that food makes fat. That is all it does - heat (which is used to keep warm or power muscle) or fat.
I'm not familiar with john469's knowledge base - but I'm happy to bow to it if it's better than mine. biggrin

21 Nov 2009

Quote by john469
Hi foxy,
Google 'thermogenesis'
You should find lots to read ;)
BTW, central heating - if really warm - wont reduce any calories bunred, its the opposite, you will burn more as the body works like heck the machinery responsible for cooling you down etc. The same is true of extreme cold, shivering will increase thermogenesis ;)

I'll google it. You can google 'conservation of energy'. biggrin

To maintain a temperature of 37 deg C (in a human body or a pan of water) in an environment at a lower temperature, you need to input heat. If the environment is at 16 deg C you will need to input more heat than if the environment is at 26 deg C. That energy must come from somewhere - it cannot be created from nothing. We've already accounted for the environment (we're at either 16 or 26 deg C in the example being discussed) so the heat must be coming from the burning of fuel - internal to the body.
The body of hot-blooded anilmals extracts energy from a) sugars directly extracted from recently consumed and digested food that are floating around in the blood stream b) glycols stored in the liver and released as needed, c) fat, which is broken down when the liver is depleted - and to replenish the liver once the environmental stress is removed and d) the breakdown of proteins (muscle).
In happens in that order. You need to get to c) to actually lose weight from fat that already exists - but you can avoid laying down fat at a) if you use the sugars up before they hit the liver. Excercise is one way and maintaining that 37 deg C is another.
Seriously if I am wrong - provide a reference that says so and I'll shut up.

21 Nov 2009

Told ya he knew a lot. wink

22 Nov 2009

Quote by john469
I'll google it. You can google 'conservation of energy'. To maintain a temperature of 37 deg C (in a human body or a pan of water) in an environment at a lower temperature, you need to input heat. If the environment is at 16 deg C you will need to input more heat than if the environment is at 26 deg C. That energy must come from somewhere - it cannot be created from nothing. We've already accounted for the environment (we're at either 16 or 26 deg C in the example being discussed) so the heat must be coming from the burning of fuel - internal to the body.
The body of hot-blooded anilmals extracts energy from a) sugars directly extracted from recently consumed and digested food that are floating around in the blood stream b) glycols stored in the liver and released as needed, c) fat, which is broken down when the liver is depleted - and to replenish the liver once the environmental stress is removed and d) the breakdown of proteins (muscle).
In happens in that order. You need to get to c) to actually lose weight from fat that already exists - but you can avoid laying down fat at a) if you use the sugars up before they hit the liver. Excercise is one way and maintaining that 37 deg C is another.
Seriously if I am wrong - provide a reference that says so and I'll shut up.

Yes but, how is any of that that demonstrating that ambient air temerature (warmed thru central heating) is contributing to weight gain? as I thought was your contention?
Everything you have covered (a, b c and d) are all integral to metabolism, thus will result in energy/oxidisation and thus temperature increase/thermogenesis and weight loss.
BTW, you have overlooked another component, that being pharmacological in nature; I could put you in a refrigerator, then give you some DNP (and oxidative uncoupler of ATP synthesis) and your metabolism would increae on the order of 40% just from the ATP pathway being blocked.
Can't find enough words of 1 syllable so bear with me.
Stage a) person has eaten food. They have some calories of energy in their blood from that food.
Cold room - more of those calories are spent in maintaining a nice warm core temperature.
Warmer room, fewer are spent keeping warm.
If said person is sitting on a sofa in both cases their 'moving' energy use is the same, so the calories used for movement are the same in the two cases, so we will discount those for the moment.
So, in a cooler room there are fewer calories left over from keeping warm - and apart from the moving energy, which we have already established as the same, all the body will do with those calories is lay down fat. Therefore two identical people (ok a theoretical nicety) having eaten exactly the same food and both sitting still, in rooms of differening temperautures, will have different energy use for heating themselves (to that constant 37 deg C) and therefore will lay down different amounts of fat.

22 Nov 2009

Quote by flower411
I thought this was going to be an interesting discussion that might wander and meander down alternative routes ....
But it`s just turned into another "big stick" thread where the shouters and belittlers ...new and old... have stifled all discussion ...
Ho hum

Where exactly would that be?
I stated I did not believe it unless someone knew different.
Is one now not to disagree?
Discussion is still taking place, where one person has asked is it possible, and another good poster giving the reasons why it is not.
Cannot see any shouters or belittlers here.

22 Nov 2009

Yes I think central eating has a lot to do with it.......:mrgreen:

22 Nov 2009

Man, physics lessons on SH.
This place rocks! :thumbup:
Seriously though, can I not blame the radiators then?! lol

22 Nov 2009

Can vegetables become obese?

22 Nov 2009

I heard they will stop making pies and nice big fresh cream cakes. wink

Joke btw...for those without any humour. lol

22 Nov 2009

Quote by duncanlondon
Can vegetables become obese?

Ever seen a stuffed pepper?