The private biotechnology and genomics company, 23andMe, launches their large-scale research project designed to test differences between people’s genetic makeup and how exercise and diet affect people differently.

Mountain View

The Mountain View company announced its plan to recruit a sample size of 100,000 participants from their overweight customer basis who have no significant health issues. The company wishes to understand how one’s environment, lifestyle and individual genetics influence body weight.

“We’d like to better understand the genetic, demographic, psychosocial and behavioral characteristics that predict weight loss success overall, and on different lifestyle interventions,” stated 23andMe’s lead scientist, Liana Del Gobbo. “This will help us begin to pave the way toward more personalized lifestyle recommendations.”

23andMe, founded in the year 2006 by a biologist named Linda Avey, an entrepreneur named Anne Wojcicki, and Paul Cusenze, business executive, name their 100,000-participant study “unprecedented” and explained that their research will investigate “the effectiveness of using different diets or exercise to lose weight.”

During the study, complete samples of participants’ DNA will be analyzed to discover variations between each collection of genes that have physical effects of exercise and diet.

According to the company, previous genetic research primarily focused on an individual’s body mass index which takes height, weight, and gender into account in order to quantify fat levels however no study explored “behavioral weight loss,” which mainly involves exercise and diet.

“This is important because the genetic variants that influence BMI may not be the same as those that influence weight loss,” 23andMe stated.

MIT Tech

Based on the MIT Technology Review, participants chosen for the study will be existing customers who agree to take part in the study and will be assigned randomly to one out of three divisions. One study group will consume more fiber and less fat, one will follow a strict no carbohydrate diet, and the final group will continue their regular diets, however, include exercise.

“They’ll report back to the company about how often they have ‘cravings,’ whether they’re stressed, and if they succeed in following the diets,” the Technology Review announced. “The company thinks that people, on average, will have roughly the same results on all the plans.

What it may be able to figure out, though, is whether there are genetic or personal reasons why some individuals will end up losing 40 pounds, and others gaining 10, no matter which advice they follow” they added.

Dave Wentworth, a self-improvement blogger, says he lost 50 pounds through intermittent 5:2 fasting– eating normally for five days, then fasting for two full days. Look up more scientific information on the diet before deciding to implement it.

Intermittent 5:2 Fasting

According to the self-improvement blogger, Dave Wentworth, he lost 50 pounds through 5:2 intermittent fasting. Wentworth works as a mechanical engineer in Michigan. There was a weight-loss competition at his job back in 2011, when he decided to try the 5:2 fasting diet.

“In simple terms, it’s eating as normally as you can for five days of the week and then on two days — for two 24-hour periods — you don’t eat,” Wentworth told NBC News. He says that this method, when done moderately can be effective and safe.

He explained that he didn’t starve himself for two days. For the two fasting days, he only had one meal. For example, on his fasting days, he could skip breakfast, lunch and only have dinner instead.

“It’s a simple way to get basically a 20 percent reduction in total calories overall,” he said.

Fasting & Non-Fasting Days

Wentworth laid out his diets on his fasting and his non-fasting days. On his non-fasting days, he ate foods equivalent to the normal caloric intake. For example: For breakfast, a protein shake, for lunch, chicken stir fry, and dinner, meat with vegetables.

“Kind of the standard grain, protein and a veggie kind of setup,” Wentworth said.

He said that you could still eat unhealthy foods, just making it a point not to overdo it.

On fasting days, he skipped both breakfast and lunch. He said that for dinner, he was careful about gorging himself. He particularly focused on vegetables and foods rich in fibre.

“I … knew that if I ate more veggies and whole grains that I could eat a lot more volume, which also helps,” he said. “If I had like buffalo wild wings or something — fast food of some sort — then it’s like there’s only a little bit of food for the same amount of calories.” “You can eat a salad that weighs five pounds, but it’s only 1,000 calories,” he said.

“You can eat a ton of food and get a ton of nutrition and feel stuffed, but not have gone outside your calorie budget.”

Researchers have come up with a microneedle skin-patch that could deliver fat-reducing drugs as an obesity and diabetic treatment.

The Medicated Micro-needle

Scientists have come up with a medical skin-patch which can deliver a fat-reducing drug as a treatment for diabetes and obesity. The drug converts your “stubborn fat,” also known as white fat to “energy burning brown fat,” while simultaneously increasing your overall metabolism. It can be administered locally in order to “burn off” stubborn pockets of fat such as “love handles” or “beer bellies.”

For years scientists have been looking for a way to convert stubborn storage “white fat” into “energy burning brown fat,”- a process called “browning.” This can happen naturally when you’re in a cold environment. There are many available “browning” drugs, but this method is the first to be able to target local areas rather than the whole body.

Comments On This New Therapy

“There are several clinically available drugs that promote browning, but all must be given as pills or injections,” said Li Qiang, the co-leader of the study. “This exposes the whole body to the drugs, which can lead to side effects such as stomach upset, weight gain, and bone fractures. Our skin patch appears to alleviate these complications by delivering most drugs directly to fat tissue.”

Zhen Gu, another co-leader, talked about the localized nature of this new technology: “The nanoparticles were designed to effectively hold the drug and then gradually collapse, releasing it into nearby tissue in a sustained way instead of spreading the drug throughout the body quickly.”

“Many people will no doubt be excited to learn that we may be able to offer a noninvasive alternative to liposuction for reducing love handles,” Dr. Qiang said. “What’s much more important is that our patch may provide a safe and effective means of treating obesity and related metabolic disorders such as diabetes.”