On Sun, 23 May 1999, Pietr Hitzig, M.D. wrote:
> "F. Frank LeFever" wrote:
>> > If you know better newsgroups to send this query to, please tell me.
> > Although the quality of postings in a couple of these I'm posting to
> > now has deteriorated badly in recent weeks (months?), truly
> > knowledgeable people have in the past offered good information and
> > expert opinion, and they may still be lurking in the wings.
> >
> > Like many other animals, humans are said to gain weight in the winter,
> > lose it in the summer.
> >
> > Does anybody out there know of systematic, quantitative studies of
> > seasonal weight changes in humans?
> >
> > If broken down by age, sex, etc., it would be nice; but even some grand
> > "average" of winter vs. summer weights would be helpful.
> >
> > Too much to ask for, but I'll ask anyway: besides AMOUNT of winter
> > weight gain, any good data on nature of weight gain, i.e. winter vs.
> > summer body composition, fat or muscle vs. water retention, etc.??
> >
> > F. Frank LeFever, Ph.D.
> > New York Neuropsychology Group
>> Dear Frank,
>> The NGroups aren't what they used to be when we were young:-)
>> I may be stating the obvious, so I will be brief. SADS (winter depression),
> weight gain at time of PMS, evening fatigue, and the increase of pain when
> the clouds block the sun arise from a simple teleologically logical origin.
> The decrease of photons hitting the retina at such times permit the
> increase of melatonin. Melatonin being a dopamine antagonist, when thereby
> increased, suppresses dopamine. The decrease of dopamine causes dysphoric
> symptoms including increased hunger, depression, and even suppression of
> TH1 cytokines.
>> With the decrease of dopamine, serotonin comes to the foreground. Serotonin
> relative excess leads to increased edema.
>> The phenotypic expression of these variables depends on the genotype and
> the environment.
>> References or discussion anytime. Just remember, it is DA deficiency,
> relative to serotonin, that is the underpinnings of depression and fatigue
> and somatic as well as neuropathic pain.
>> Please consider looking at www.phen4.com, especially the article to
> Harvard.
>> Pietr Hitzig, MD
You state these points as if they are fact, with no doubts as to their
correctness. Is there a connection between severity of PMS symptoms and
photon flux through the eye? Do blind people not get SADS? Are
sunglasses a dangerous inhibitor of melatonin production?
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| Fumitaka Hayashi - hayashi at u.washington.edu |
|http://macrophage.immunol.washington.edu/~fumi/index.html |
| Aderem Lab - Dept. of Immunology - University of Washington |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
