
Study: One Night of Total Sleep Deprivation Could Equal Months on High-Fat Diet - bootload
http://www.obesity.org/news/press-releases/one-night-of-poor-sleep-could-equal-six-months-on-a-high-fat-diet
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adam12
The title says "one night of poor sleep", but the quote in the article says
"one night of total sleep deprivation". I often have nights of poor sleep. I
never have nights of total sleep deprivation. Title is misleading.

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Ganz7
I'm really curious to see if the negative effects of a night of sleep
deprivation/poor sleep could be offset by some naptime in the day.

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bkmartin
You cannot, in any way, say that these two scenarios are equal from this study
alone. While the study tested insulin resistance after 1 night of sleep
deprivation and in a separate of animals after 6 months of a high fat diet,
they are only point in time measurements. How quickly does the body rebound
from the sleep deprived drop? After 1 good sleep? After a week? How long does
the resistance last after eating a high fat diet for 6 months? After 1 meal?
After a week? After 6 more months? Does 1 night of sleep deprived night lead
to the same number of dogs developing diabetes as those fed the diet for 6
months? So much sensationalizing...

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DiabloD3
I'm flagging this post. High fat diets are not proven to be detrimental to
your health, and science is proving that the low fat fad diets that have been
pushed by the FDA for years ARE detrimental to your health. The article is
almost entirely bullshit.

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csvan
> High fat diets are not proven to be detrimental to your health,

Do you believe this yourself?

Also, not to nitpick, but science does not "prove", it establishes plausible
models for observed facts. There is no end to studies linking poor diet to
poor health.

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alrs
Insulin resistance is driven by sugar, not fat. What are these guys talking
about?

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leetrout
That's what I thought (part time ketoer here) but not the case. I googled it
just now and educated myself a bit more... It comes down to the cell membranes
and the amount of fat in the blood stream. All news to me.

"saturated fat significantly worsen insulin-resistance, while monounsaturated
and polyunsaturated fatty acids improve it through modifications in the
composition of cell membranes which reflect at least in part dietary fat
composition"[0]

"Fat in the bloodstream can build up inside the muscle cell and create toxic
fatty breakdown products and free radicals that can block the insulin
signaling process. When that happens, no matter how much insulin we have in
our blood, it won’t be able to open the glucose gates." [1]

So it's interesting to me, then, that the crux of what Tim Ferris says is
accurate in a different light- the fat seems to clog the insulin response from
the cells (including fat cells) which would lead me to believe that's
beneficial in some way to stop the addition of sugar to fat cells. IANADr tho.

[0]
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15297079](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15297079)

[1] [http://www.forksoverknives.com/fat-insulin-resistance-
blood-...](http://www.forksoverknives.com/fat-insulin-resistance-blood-sugar/)

Edit: Just found this one too... very interesting

"In conclusion, the present study shows that a high-fat KD causes hepatic
insulin resistance in mice, which can be attributed to an increase in hepatic
DAG content, leading to PKCε activation and subsequent impaired insulin
signaling. Moreover, this study found that a KD increases energy expenditure,
which results in weight loss. Given the widespread use of KD in the treatment
of obesity and the role of NAFLD and hepatic insulin resistance in promoting
type 2 diabetes, these results may have important clinical implications, as
obese patients on such diets could lose weight but develop NAFLD and hepatic
insulin resistance."

[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2980360/](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2980360/)

~~~
DrScump
Really interesting stuff, but a couple of notes about applicability to humans:
"It should be mentioned that the KD used in this study, as well as in other
studies in mice (2–4, 25), may differ from KD used in humans. Indeed, this KD
contains almost no carbohydrate and the protein proportion is low, whereas KD
used in humans usually contain less fat, more protein, and also more
carbohydrate."

IOW, the diet is an artificial construct not resembling any occurrence in
nature. Artificially low protein in a KD sounds just dangerous, as adequate
dietary protein will produce any needed blood glucose via gluconeogenesis,
keeping those pathways active in a more natural sense.

2) note the second paragraph in Discussion where they discuss effects of BAT
(Brown Adipose Tissue aka "brown fat"). BAT is present in significantly higher
%age in mice vs humans.

3) later that paragraph: "most studies have found that weight loss improves
insulin sensitivity in humans (41) and mice (36)." Well, we have kind of an
impasse, then -- were those studies' KDs more realistic in terms of
macronutrient ratios?

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squirrelsrfun
Actually, you can not eliminate the effects of 6 months on a high fat diet by
sleeping more as the title implied. At best you can just make your insulin
marginally better.

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codyb
Hmm, when I'm very tired I get slight tingling sensations in my feet
sometimes. I wonder if that is (anecdotally of course) related to the insulin
sensitivity. I've heard that is a symptom of diabetes.

Usually sleep fixes everything right back up. I'm pretty skinny, although I
know that's not necessarily always an indicator of good health, I'm _pretty_
sure I'm _pretty_ healthy.

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biomcgary
Subtitle: New study in canines examines the effect of sleep loss on insulin
sensitivity

So, does it apply to humans?

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purplerabbit
Probably. We're very biologically similar. The sample size is probably a
larger issue.

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bferri
So I can eat whatever I want as long as I get a good night's sleep? Sold.

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nkozyra
You should apply to write headlines for obesity.org. You've got what it takes.

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cheezburgler
Oh, wow, a study on 8 canines. I'M CONVINCED, OBESITY.ORG. This surely does
not look like an attempt to use a study to draw an unrelated conclusion in a
sensationalist title.

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nonbel
Keep these conference abstracts away from the media. Just because some grad
student says something on a poster does not make it even close to probably
correct.

