Fat: An Endocrine Organ
by Stephanie Seneff, PhD
A Presentation from Wise Traditions 2010, 11th Annual Conference

Friday, March 25, 2011
DVD begins at 6:30 (ends approximately at 8:30 PM)
Discussion time before and after movie – 6:00 to 9:00 PM

Location:
Market of Choice
67 West 29th, Eugene
Upstairs in the Community Room

In January we asked for feedback on which of the presentations the Eugene Chapter should show in upcoming months.  This was one of the winners.  Please continue to review the presentations and send in your votes.

Body Fat is an Endocrine Organ That Modulates Appetite Based on Nutritional Deficiencies While fat (adipose) tissue had originally been viewed as a passive storage containers for fats, it has increasingly become apparent that it plays an active role in modulating appetite, as well as liver, and pancreatic function, to maintain homeostasis and assure adequate supplies of fuel sources in the blood stream. Fat cells release several peptides that play powerful regulatory roles, such as leptin and adiponectin. Fat tissue also releases cytokines such as IL-6 and TNF-alpha in response to stress, as part of the inflammatory response. I will explain how adipose tissue orchestrates energy management in skeletal muscle cells based on the nutritional profile, and how the distribution of fats and carbohydrates in the diet can powerfully influence body mass index.

I will also develop a theory that obesity and the metabolic syndrome arise from nutritional deficiencies of four principal nutrients: cholesterol, fatty acids, calcium, and vitamin D, in conjunction with excessive high-glycemic index carbohydrates in the diet. I will show how a high-carb, low fat diet, along with excessive sun avoidance, leads to a cascade of events ultimately culminating in atherosclerosis and heart disease.

Stephanie Seneff, PhD received her Bachelor’s degree in Biology with a minor in Food and Nutrition in 1968 from MIT.  She received her Master’s and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in 1979 and 1985, respectively, also from MIT. Since then, she has been a researcher at MIT, where she is currently a Senior Research Scientist in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and a Principal Investigator in the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Throughout her career, Dr. Seneff has conducted research in diverse areas including human auditory modeling, spoken dialogue systems, natural language processing, human language acquisition, information retrieval and summarization, computational biology, and marine mammal socialization.  She has published over 150 refereed articles on these subjects, and has been invited to give keynote speeches at several international conferences. She has also supervised numerous Master’s and PhD theses at MIT.  She has recently become interested in the effect of drugs and diet on health and nutrition, and she has written several essays on the web articulating her view on these topics. She is the first author of a paper on the metabolic syndrome which will appear in the journal, “Archives of Medical Science,” and on two other papers on nutrition currently under review.

RSVP:
Please RSVP if you think you will be attending. If your plans change, always feel free to just show up.

Cost:
Donations of $5-10 donation to the Eugene Chapter are suggested and appreciated.
Sliding scale for low-income people is $0-4 or volunteer to help the Eugene Chapter.
(No one should miss a showing because of cost. Please join us).

Discussion:
We have had such interesting conversations before and after recent DVDs that we now offer time for discussion. We will have the room available from 6:00 until closing.

Dinner and a Movie:
You are welcome to buy food downstairs in Market of Choice or (shh, don’t tell them I told you this) bring something from home to eat in the room.