The New Obesity Vaccine

[wendizbaby]

I just saw a news segment on this. I find it interesting that they call it a "vaccine". I guess obesity has reached epidemic proportions in our country and it is considered a "disease", so I'll give them that. Kind of scary they term it that though, it might one day become part of your childs 2 month well baby visit. :

Wendi

[heatherdeg]

God forbid we look at the root cause and try to fix it, right?

[rozzie'sma]

Maybe something so absurd will get the public questioning? Nah..... they will just continue to hit all you can eat Nacho night, now without guilt

[ethansemi]

YES!!! Does this mean I can now cancel my gym membership!!!! I'll save $500/year!!! But I'll probably have to now spend that on drugs because of the health problems the vax causes..............give me a break............oy vey!!! GOD HELP US ALL!!!!!

[starhalo]

I think all you moms summed up my reaction to this incredibly stupid idea. Still, I needed to say "argggggg!!!". Why are we the only country that adopts this way of thinking?!? Let's keep giving our children heavily processed foods...that'll do the trick.

[PeacefulSeams]

OH OH that means more TV and fatty foods for my ds....hey and no excercise either...Jackpot!!!!:

[eirual]

You've gotta be sh!tt!ng me...someone's ACTUALLY developing such a thing??:

Our culture makes me sick.

[kyragee]

i also cannot believe that such a vaccine is being developed - its absurd

[ethansemi]

Let's keep giving our children heavily processed foods...that'll do the trick.

HEY...at least I buy the walmart organic rice crispies!! They mey be "heavily processed foods" but at least there now organic....and at great prices!!!!

[arlecchina]

Originally Posted by heatherdeg

God forbid we look at the root cause and try to fix it, right?

right...so they keep genetically modifying food and adding all the corn syrup on TOP of the nastiness that is fast food/processed food. but it's SO UNAMERICAN TO STOP SPENDING MONEY, so keep spending it - keep eating - and have this vax for weight gain!

[cjuniverse]

Addressing the source of the issue would mean lots and lots less money for those behind the funding of things like a FREAKIN' OBESITY VACCINE to keep from addressing the source of the issue.

"My fat, lazy, ignorant fellow Americans...now instead of worrying about pesky things like good diet and exercise, which lower your risk for health problems that make us money and lower your spending on products that increase your health problems that make us money and make us money...here is a vaccine which *might* keep you from becoming obese but will *certainly* cause you even more health problems whichmake us money and make us money and MAKE US MONEY. Rejoice! Eat! SPEND!!"



The vast majority of people who hear about this will add it to their wish lists, give up on already pitiful attempts at caring for themselves, fork out the dough, get even sicker, and get pissed and punitive at anyone who doesn't follow suit.

The bull is definitely not stopping. What next? A vaccine for thinking?

I'd say we've already gone there.

[momtoNatalee]

Originally Posted by rozzie'sma

Maybe something so absurd will get the public questioning? Nah..... they will just continue to hit all you can eat Nacho night, now without guilt

Thats what I was thinking...

[Laurel723]

Originally Posted by ethansemi

HEY...at least I buy the walmart organic rice crispies!! They mey be "heavily processed foods" but at least there now organic....and at great prices!!!!

[heatherdeg]

Ever see that commercial with the guy who tells is giving you a kind of "inside look" into his head and he's supposed to be corporate america personified. He goes on and on about how much money you give him and the doctors by not taking vacation... what you do to your health and how it benefits "him". At the end, he says "That's right... you keep on working..." and after his bit, they flash something encouraging vacation/tourism.

I feel like that's what someone in the bigger picture is doing here.

[appifanie]

Originally Posted by cjuniverse

The bull is definitely not stopping. What next? A vaccine for thinking?

thank heavens, cause all this thinking makes my head hurt.

[xmysticprincessx]

i dont even understand how they would expect this to work. (not that it will, but how they will convince the sheeple that it works.) its not like obesity is a disease caused by a virus or bacteria... so its not like you could "catch" obesity by walking past an obese person in wal mart getting your organic rice crispies.
unless... i've got it! they will "create" this new virus that causes obesity in some people... like some new discovery that eating mcdonalds every day doesnt cause obesity but some virus instead... and then vax everyone for this newly discovered virus!

[ccohenou]

Actually, there was just an article in the New York Times magazine Sunday about ongoing research into connections between certain viral infections, gut microbiota, and obesity. Really interesting, you could probably find it on http://www.nytimes.com . It didn't talk about a vaccine, though - made it sound like the research was in the really beginning stages.
But the gist was that there's actually not a 1:1 correspondence between the number of calories in a food and the number of calories your body extracts from the food. And the extraction of calories is mediated in part through the gut flora, which if they are disrupted by certain infections can go haywire and make you fat. And apparently there are also some viruses which, after infection, almost 100% of "victims" from multiple species became obese. It also made it clear that obesity is much less of a "moral issue" than it's often made out to be.

[illinoismommy]

Ahhhhh!!! This is soooooo stupid. They already know its portion size, attitudes about food, and the content of the US diet that leads to obesity. Why not change that and make us healthier rather than just giving us more drugs like thats going to change the health side of it? The US is struggling with weight, but I think a little re-education and a strong emphasis on it for the next generation would do the trick better than a vaccine.

[krissi]

i dont even understand how they would expect this to work. (not that it will, but how they will convince the sheeple that it works.)

The obesity vaccine is supposed to work by attacking ghrelin, which is a hormone that scientists THINK is related to hunger and was discovered only in 1999. But even if it IS related to hunger, scientists do not understand everything about ghrelin and how it works and whether it affects other areas of the body. From the little reading I have done about endocrinology it seems like all the hormones are rather intertwined and I am curious to see what happens when we start having vaccines to attack the body's natural production of a single hormone that may well turn out to play additional roles in the body. What if the ghrelin vaccine starts attacking other hormones too? :

I get so tired of modern medicine sometimes. If people who are obese have higher than average levels of ghrelin, why not figure out WHY their levels are so high and target the root of the problem rather than trying to artificially reduce the ghrelin by using the body's immune system in a way that it was not designed to work.

Ugh.

[heatherdeg]

Originally Posted by ccohenou

Actually, there was just an article in the New York Times magazine Sunday about ongoing research into connections between certain viral infections, gut microbiota, and obesity. Really interesting, you could probably find it on http://www.nytimes.com . It didn't talk about a vaccine, though - made it sound like the research was in the really beginning stages.

Ironically, these are not new studies. Some were done as early as the 1930s as it pertained to the meat industry and making sure the animals extracted the most bang for the feed buck and stayed healthy to avoid costly vet bills if not loss of the entire herd.

They're just now READING it. Ah... modern medicine!