Yes, I will consider looking at that article.
Meanwhile, I will take some of what you assert about mechanisms of
weight gain in SAD and other contexts with a grain of salt. Ditto your
theory of depression. Conceivably increased serotonin evokes a
compensatory increase in dopamine which indeed overshoots and
overcompensates; or do you have another explanation for the
antidepressant efficacy of serotonin "uptake" blockers? (As I
understand it, they block "RE-uptake", allowing greater or longer
action of serotonin).
In any case, I was NOT asking for explanations of weight gain in
winter; I was asking for data on AMOUNT of weight gain in normal
populations.
Beyond that, I would like data on TYPE of weight gain: is it indeed
only fluid accumulation, as you imply? Are there data on relative
contributions of fluid accumulation and fat formation, etc.?
By the way: why is this appearing only in bionet.immunology? I thought
I had cross-posted the query to several groups more likely to have the
right readers than this one?
F. LeFever
In <3748D6CA.6D3BADCF at san.rr.com> "Pietr Hitzig, M.D."
<phitzig1 at san.rr.com> writes:
>>"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
>>>>>--
><html>
><font color="#0000FF">Pietr Hitzig, M.D.</font> <br>
><font color="#FF0000"><b>4863 Bella Pacific Row, Suite 147<br>
></font></b>San Diego, California, 92109-8511<br>
><a href="http://www.phen4.com/" eudora="autourl">www.phen4.com</a><br>
>PietrHitzig at PHEN4.COM<br>
> 619.274.5910<br>
><br>
></html>
>>
