Response

profilerock n roll
Responsefor2messagesbelow.docx

Response for 2 messages below, around 150 words each.

Response to LZ

MR separates the cause and effect of someone’s genes and is based on the simple fact that a child receives genes from both parents at conception in a random fashion.  The results from the MR provide evidence against a long-standing belief based on less sophisticated methods.

Scientists use MR to test whether higher insulin secretion throughout one’s life (the exposure) is related to higher body weight (the outcome) which is a common assumption of the CIM.  It's found that genetically-determined insulin secretion predicted body mass index with extremely high confidence and a potentially large effect across the population. 

https://www.obesityaction.org/get-educated/public-resources/brochures-guides/understanding-excess-weight-and-its-role-in-type-2-diabetes-brochure/

This article I chose is called "Understanding Excess Weight and its Role in Type 2 Diabetes". It is from a brochure on the official website of the OAC (Obesity Action Coalition). It started off by giving you back ground information on type 2 diabetes, what exactly your body is doing when you have it and how it relates to excess weight. It leads into talking about how obesity is the cause of type 2 diabetes and all of the ways you can control it. They believe Losing weight is one of the most beneficial ways you can help prevent type 2 diabetes. Moderate and sustained weight-loss (5 percent to 10 percent of body weight) can improve insulin action and decrease fasting sugar concentrations.

Response to DS

Mendelian Randomization (MR) refers to genetic variation. That is, an offspring receives one copy of each gene from their mother and one copy of each gene from their father. The copy they receive comes from their parents genotype but the specific allele that is passed down is random. There are four potential genotypic possibilities for each one but each possibility has an equal probability of being passed on to their offspring. This tool is useful in genome wide association studies because it helps to determine whether there is a genetic component associated with a specific health outcome.

MR was used to test whether there is a correlation between high insulin secretion and high body mass (weight). They first created a “genetic score,” from worldly databases, to hypothesize how much insulin an individual will secrete after carbohydrate consumption. The results showed that genetically-determined insulin secretion directly correlated with body mass index with almost 100% certainty and had a widespread effect across the population. High insulin secretors were, on average, 10 pounds heavier than low insulin secretors—disregarding carbohydrate intake. However, the results were not reversible. You could not determine ones insulin secretion levels based on their body mass index.

Obesity is a leading cause of diabetes. That being said, this article aimed to address whether genetics plays a role in obesity as well. The article touches upon the fact that society has promoted physical inactivity as well as consumption of foods that are high in calories. While this is true, not all people do become obese or suffer from the consequential health problems that are correlated to an unhealthy lifestyle. The article states that genetic changes occur at a minuscule rate and are, therefore, not responsible for the obesity epidemic. Nevertheless, the variation in racial and ethnic groups in how they respond to societal changes does lead them to believe that there is a genetic component that plays into obesity. Studies have suggested that genes can influence particular behaviors like a drive to over eat, as well as metabolic processes like tendency to store body fat. However, obesity is a combination of the interactions among these many genes and environmental factors.

I personally believe in today’s day and age fast-food chains have contributed to the obesity epidemic and, as a consequence, Type 2 Diabetes. These fast-food chains have to maximize the amount of food they make and minimize the time it takes to make these foods. As a result, they often use unhealthy oils and other food components that are cheap to purchase in bulk and quicken the rate of manufacturing food.

https://www.cdc.gov/genomics/resources/diseases/obesity/index.htm