Lipid Levels and Hereditary Happiness

• A prominent skeptic of global warming has been Professor Richard Muller, a University of California (Berkeley) physicist. Muller was hired to conduct an in-depth study of the findings of mainstream climate scientists, almost all of who support the view that global temperatures are rising rapidly. After two years of investigation, Muller recently concluded that mainstream climate scientists were correct and that global temperatures are indeed rising rapidly. Who financed Muller’s research? According to the Washington Post, “One-quarter of the $600,000 to do (Muller’s) research came from the Charles Koch Foundation, whose founder is a major funder of skeptic groups and the tea party.” Much of their business is related to oil and gas interests. (www.washingtonpost.com/business, Oct. 31, 2011; Associated Press news release)

• What are triglycerides and why are they important? Chronic elevated levels of lipid (fat) in the blood are associated with atherosclerosis and heart disease. Enzymes in the liver are responsible for producing and releasing blood lipids. In some people the production process malfunctions, leading to an excess of cholesterol and/or triglyceride molecules in the blood. Cholesterol is an essential component of the surfaces of cells; triglycerides are important fuel molecules. Within the past decade, statin drugs have become a primary treatment to reduce the release of lipids into the bloodstream, and they appear to act by inhibiting a key enzyme in the liver involved in cholesterol and triglyceride synthesis.

Recently scientists discovered 59 different gene variants associated with regulation of cholesterol and triglyceride, which suggests that: 1) the synthesis pathways may be more complex than previously thought and, 2) heredity plays a role in how individuals process lipids. Another recent study offers hope that supplementing the diet with lipoic acid can lower triglycerides. Lab animals fed lipoic acid in their food showed a 60 percent drop in their triglyceride level. Another approach to lowering triglycerides is to follow a strict, sugar-free, and carbohydrate restricted diet. The reason: sugar molecules, such as glucose, can be easily converted to triglycerides by the liver. (Science Daily, Mar. 30, 2009; http://www.breakthroughdigest.com/medical-news; http://www.webmd.com, Oct. 30, 2011; http://www.clevelandclinic.org, June 24, 2011; nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/triglycerides)

• Thank your parents if you are a happy person. Studies of over 1,000 pairs of twins, and other twin studies, strongly suggest that our genes partly determine whether we are happy. However, many factors play a role in whether we perceive ourselves as happy. Employed people are happier than those unemployed, and age and external circumstances can contribute to satisfaction with our lives. But it appears that personality is the major determinant, and researchers further conclude that about a third of people’s happiness can be attributed to heredity. (The Economist, Oct. 15, 2011; a study by the Univ. of Zurich Institute for Empirical Research in Economics)

• Here’s the latest on whether a virus causes chronic fatigue syndrome. In 2009, researchers reported that two-thirds of a group of people with chronic fatigue syndrome tested positive for a virus known to cause cancer in mice. The virus was designated by the acronym XMRV. This caused great excitement, since the existence and cause of the fatigue syndrome have baffled scientists for years.

As is common in science, a number of labs set out to prove or disprove the XMRV finding. The result: nine different labs failed to reliably find the virus in chronic fatigue syndrome patients, and the authors of the original study have been forced to retract most of their findings. Also, the lead researcher writing the original study was fired from her position at a research institute. (Science News, Oct. 22, 2011)