You may recall headlines referring to a compound that researchers discovered called the ob/gene, which stands for obese gene.  This discovery lead to Amgen's development of an obesity drug called Leptin.

Leptin is an injectable hormone discovered by Jeffery Friedman, a molecular geneticist at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.  His research team discovered a mutant obesity gene in mice.  They suspected that this gene caused them to pile on extra body fat.  Then the discovery came that fat cells secreted this hormone into the blood stream.  As the number of fat cells increase, the level of this hormone rises.  The hormone level appears to be regulated by a feedback mechanism (a gene) and once enough fat has been stored, the level of this hormone diminishes.  However, in the case of obese mice, the gene that regulates this process is defective and is unable to produce this hormone in sufficient quantities.  Consequently, the mice with the defective gene continued to get fatter and fatter because the body could not receive the message that enough fat had been stored. 

Daily injections of Leptin are used to signal the body that too much fat has accumulated, and the body will then begin to decrease fat reserves.  When researchers injected human Leptin into the stomachs of 10 obese mice, they lost an average of 30% of their body weight after two weeks.  After 33 days, the mice lost an average of 40% of their body weight.  The control group which was injected with saline lost no weight.  Not only did the Leptin treated obese mice trim down; but their body temperature rose, their appetite fell, and they became much more active.

Now for the really exciting news:  A soon to be released supplement has been extensively researched and studied by a muscle cell biologist, Dr. Joe Antonio, at the Southwest Texas Medical School Biology Department.  The breakthrough occurred by accident when Dr. Antonio was conducting a routine experiment with a food compound that he had found in egg yolks.  Apparently, this compound, alpha hydroxygluterate (AHG), is responsible for the accelerated growth rate of chickens.

While conducting a study involving rats, Dr. Antonio misread the protocol and mistakenly placed the AHG through a forced feeding tube into the rats' small intestines instead of the rats' stomachs.  His simple mistake led to the greatest obesity discovery within the last sixty years.  Evidently, bypassing the stomach and placing the compound directly into the small intestine resulted in the AHG being directly absorbed into the bloodstream unaltered.

Within a few short days of administering AHG, Dr. Antonio noticed that all the rats in the study had dropped significant amounts of body fat.  All the rats became very thin, became much more active, and seemed to require less sleep. 

Upon further investigation, Dr. Antonio discovered that the body temperature of every rat had increased by a constant 2 degrees.  Apparently, the AHG was responsible for increasing the body temperature of the rats.  The increase in temperature substantially increased their metabolic rate and resulted in a massive loss of body fat.  Most importantly, this all occurred without adding exercise or restricting their food intake!

Now, here's where the study gets really interesting:  Because this compound was isolated from a food (egg yolks) it did not require, like most new drugs, the financial and rigorous burden of animal testing.  Also, since it was considered a food compound, it fell under the jurisdiction of the Supplement Act as opposed to the FDA's Drug Act.  This means that testing on humans could begin without delay.

Dr. Antonio quickly established human studies at various independent clinics across Texas.  I received a call from him late last year and took part in conducting a double-blind study on several obese subjects in the Houston area.  Currently, there are three separate AHG clinical studies being completed and the results will be released at the next American College of Sports Medicine Conference.  Every subject chosen for these studies weighed in excess of 275 pounds.  50% of the subjects were female, and the other half were males.  All of the subjects were under the age of 50, and none were allowed to exercise or change their dietary habits.  The AHG was administered in enteric coated tablets, so that the compound could enter the small intestine unaltered.  The results:  Every subject that received the AHG dropped an average of three pounds of fat each week during the entire three-month study.  The placebo group gained an average of .75 pounds during the study! 

By the time you read this report, the studies will have already been presented.  I just wanted to be the first to tell you about it.  Remember, since this is a food compound and is not considered a drug by conventional standards, it should be made available to the public within a few months.

Now, here's the most amazing part of the entire study:  It doesn't exist!  I made up the entire story!  You many be wondering why on earth I would waste the last five minutes of your life telling you a complete lie.  Well, I wanted to illustrate how easy it is for someone to use catch words, phrases and medical jargon to create a desire for a supplement that is virtually useless. 

You see, I used a catchy title, neat buzzwords like "breakthrough," "incredible," "amazing," "discovery," and "double blind study," and added a few other details (like a doctor's name) to draw your attention to my bogus product.  Did it sound convincing?  If so, read on.  I want to tell you about something that's happening to you every day you turn on the news or listen to your radio.

There seems to be a current trend within the news media to read medical journals, then extrapolate small sections of the information from the study and present it to the world without telling the complete story.  Consumers see the latest news breaking stories about how a supplement does this or a vitamin pill does that and they may actually make dietary changes that could be potentially harmful.  Too many people are willing to accept an occasional piece of research as fact because the study was conducted by a "University" or "Doctor."  Regardless, you and I may never really know who is behind the study and if we don't actually read the study cited, we can't look at it objectively for methodology flaws.  I thought you might like to see a couple of examples of actual studies that have graced the headlines:

"Caffeine reduces your risk of suicide by 66%"

Researchers at Harvard reported that drinking 2-3 cups of coffee per day will greatly reduce your risk of committing suicide.  Of all the stupid headlines that I've seen lately, this one takes the cake.  Caffeine is a very strong drug.  In fact, if you suffer from a heart arrhythmia, caffeine can be deadly.  This report, like many others, forgot to mention the risks.  For example, women suffering from fibrocystic breast disease will experience more pain and cyst growth from consuming caffeine.  Also, the report failed to give concrete data to support the notion that caffeine could curb suicide.  Coffee may improve your mood and sense of well-being, but to make the leap in logic that coffee can prevent suicide is a tall tale indeed.  I wonder which coffee company paid Harvard to conduct such a senseless study.

"Oat Bran can Reduce Your Cholesterol Level"

It was billed as a dietary cure-all during the late 1980's and everybody jumped on the oat bran bandwagon.  Cookies, muffins, waffles, cereals, and even pretzels had "made with oat bran" across their labels.  Within a few months after the media hailed oat bran as the latest cure for elevated cholesterol, the supermarket shelves were covered with Kellogg's "Cracklin' Oat Bran," "Post Oat Flakes," "Common Sense Oat Bran" and at least a dozen other new cereals.  By 1989, sales of oat bran cereals rose to a staggering $247 million, up by 240% from the previous year.  Then the books came....  The Eight-Week Cholesterol Cure claimed that eating three oat bran muffins a day, in combination with a low fat diet and some niacin, would save your life.  What you didn't hear was that many fibers reduce cholesterol levels, not just oat bran.  Fiber has the ability to absorb cholesterol within the intestinal tract and carry it out of your system unabsorbed.  The problem wasn't the fiber.  The problem was that many of the products that advertised "contains oat bran" didn't contain significant amounts of oat bran.  In fact, many ingredient listings contained mainly white flour with oat bran being listed near the bottom of the ingredients.  Imagine eating three Otis Spunkmeyer oat bran muffins a day to reduce your risk of heart disease and finding out later that each muffin contained 364 calories and 13.5 g of fat.  That's a whopping 33% fat!  Also, what does the 737 mg. of sodium contained in each muffin do to your blood pressure?

"Alcohol increases your metabolic rate"

This study appeared in the American Journal of Physiology and reported that the ingestion of alcohol can significantly increase the metabolic rate in nonalcoholic, young, healthy, nonsmoking males.  Two studies showed similar results.  In the first study, the volunteers were given 96g of alcohol spaced out over 3 meals and accounted for 25% of their total caloric requirements.  The second study examined the thermic effect of alcohol during a fasting state.  Indirect calorimetry measurements were made over a 24-hour period in a respirator chamber for the first study and during a 5-hour period using a ventilator hood during the second study.

The first study proved that alcohol led to an increased energy expenditure that corresponded to a thermogenic response of 22%, and the second study proved that the ingestion of alcohol during a fasting state leads to a thermogenic response of 17% of the ingested calories from alcohol.  In other words, for every 100 calories of alcohol you drink, your body will have to burn 17-22 of those calories off just to do the work of digesting the alcohol.

Perhaps the most important message of all is what wasn't said from the study.  Besides the fact that alcohol interacts with drugs, is addictive, ruins your liver, decreases your willpower, and increases your appetite (just to name a few), it also alters a few metabolic processes.  For example, alcohol intake decreases lipid oxidation, so despite its thermogenic effect, alcohol is likely to increase lipid storage by inhibiting lipid oxidation.

So there you have it!  New research shows that alcohol increases your metabolic rate, but it doesn't bother to state that it increases fat storage! Sounds like a good study for the alcohol industry to use on 60 Minutes next month.

"Chromium picolinate decreases body fat

"decreases appetite and increases muscle mass"

The chromium picolinate concentration in the human body is very small.  Supplement companies are actively advising consumers to increase their intake of chromium picolinate with blatant disregard to whether they are deficient or not.

Chromium, like every other vitamin and mineral, has an important role/function and is part of the human body's delicate balance.  As with most vitamins and minerals, taking more than you need to will not enhance the function it performs.  The human body may store the extra nutrient until it becomes toxic; or flush it through your system.  With chromium, both things happen, some gets stored and some is excreted.

According to findings reported by Hank Lukaski, a researcher at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Research Center, chromium picolinate has no effect on building muscle, reducing body fat or increasing strength.  In the study conducted, 35 healthy men participated in a rigorous strength training program.  The men were divided into three different groups.  During the eight week training program, one group was given chromium picolinate, another group was given chromium chloride, and the final group was given a placebo.  No differences could be found between the three groups in strength, body weight or body composition.  Another study conducted by the International Journal of Sport Nutrition, found similar results.  In a nine week study of 38 football players, there was no change recorded.  However, the subjects secreted five times as much chromium in their urine than the placebo group.

It is important to note that the toxicity level of chromium has not been clearly established, and taking large doses may have negative side effects.  Chromium plays a role in the carbohydrate metabolism and is necessary for the binding of insulin to the cell membrane.  When too much is taken, this function may reverse and inhibit, rather than enhance insulin activity.  The outrageous claims made in chromium picolinate ads are unfounded and the research cited has numerous methodology problems.

The list is endless.  Yeah, I know.  Household electricity is supposed to cause cancer.  Chromium picolinate reduces body fat, hunger and is supposed to increase muscle mass.  Rare red meat reduces your risk of getting cancer.  Arginine and ornithine releases growth hormone.  And when the grass turns green there will be potato chips in the park.

The fact is that science isn't always an exact science.  The same data can look completely different to different researchers.  Consequently, opposite conclusions and opinions can be drawn from the same data.  Also, the search for the truth is almost always smothered by a hungry public that wants quick answers, journalists that want a new exciting story, universities that want grant money, and last but not least, owners of companies that want to increase profits.  So, before you rush out to try the latest craze that the media blitz creates, consider the following pointers:

 ·    Just because something happens in a test tube or in a rat doesn't mean it will happen in a human being.

·    A valid experiment must be "blinded" which means the participants don't know whether they are in the control or placebo group.

·    Epidemiological studies usually cannot prove a cause and effect.  They can identify associations and risk factors; further, there are numerous variables that can lead to a false conclusion.

·    Be leery of percentages.  Any good scientist can make numbers look better by using percentages.  For example, if the control group gained one half a pound of lean body mass and the group receiving a supplement gained one pound of lean body mass, we could say the subjects that used the supplement gained 100% more lean body mass than the control group.  Obviously, 100% more muscle sounds better than one half pound more muscle.  Similarly, when a study uses the statement "doubles the risk of," it may not mean a whole lot.  For example, if the risk for getting cancer is one in a billion and the compound doubles the risk, the chances are now one in half a billion.

·    Researchers can draw the wrong conclusion from information.  For example, bodybuilders eat eggs.  Eggs are baby chickens.  Therefore, bodybuilders eat babies.

·    Research is a vast accumulation of information that takes years to collect and draw conclusions from.  In many instances, the companies that benefit from a study suggest a correlation too soon.

·    "May" doesn't always mean "will."

·    A lot of research is hyped-up by the media and food manufacturers.  Don't become cynical, but don't believe everything you read either.  In other words, don't become reactionary to one reported study.

·    Hidden variables may often hide the actual facts.  For example, research states that beta-carotene may reduce your risk of developing certain types of cancer.  Yet, people that eat a diet high in beta-carotene (lots of vegetables) may also do other things that promote good health.  They may exercise more, eat out less, drink less alcohol, or may not smoke.

·     Sometimes the study can be flawed.  The uninformed person reading the results may overlook various methodology problems.

·    Always look for the number of participants that took part in a study.  The results could be meaningless if the study was small or of a short duration.

·    Many universities and scientists send out press releases to generate interest and gain extra publicity.  The press release is intended to grab your attention and be newsworthy, so take what you hear with a grain of salt.

·    Research is equivocal.  For every piece of research that you show me that states a conclusion, I can find another piece that states just the opposite.  Therefore, research is equivalent.  The goal of the scientific community is to develop the most research that supports their opinion.  If people can accumulate enough data to support their opinion, they will tilt the balance in their favor. And if that person or university possesses the most research that supports an opinion they are the clear winners.

I think the news media is bombarding us with a lot of unnecessary and confusing information from scientific journals, and it's only a matter of time before the American public becomes so confused by the conflicting information that they just stop listening completely.  If you don't believe everything you hear or read about politics, business or court cases, why should you believe everything you hear about the latest "breakthrough?"

One more thing, if you are still interested in buying some AHG, give me a call.  But wait - that's not all!  If you order before midnight tonight, you'll also receive a free liposuction kit.  It sucks; no, it really sucks.  If your carpet looks better after you vacuum it, why wouldn't your thighs.  Best of all, it's free!  That's right - absolutely free!  Just send $499.99 plus shipping and handling to....