From: bradbury@sftwks.UUCP (Robert Bradbury)
Newsgroups: sci.med.nutrition
Subject: Kidney damage/accelerated aging to gain weight [was: Weight gain]
Summary: Excess protein/calorie consumption may not be the best approach
Keywords: weight gain, excess protein
Date: 8 Sep 92 18:15:12 GMT
Organization: Softworks Ltd, Seattle, WA

>In sci.med.nutrition / dcborean@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu (David Borean):
>> > Seth Reichelson writes:
>> >    does anybody know of a healthy way of gaining weight

In article <87120001@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com>
   deanc@hpdmd48.boi.hp.com (Dean Cashen) writes:
> ... makes recommendations about working out and possible hormone effects...

These statements I agree with, but then Dean says:

>After a heavy workout, EAT.  Calories -- low fat calories, at that --
>are essential to growth.  Eat carbos and protein (minimum 1gm/lb of 
>body weight per day).                             ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I must disagree with Dean unless he provides some scientific evidence
to back it up for several reasons.  First of all, your body is very
efficient at recycling amino acids into protein.  Arthur Guyton documents
in the "Physiology of the Body" in 1964 that the human body can function
perfectly well for a month with no vegetable or animal protein intake.
At 1gm/lb you are taking in at least 3 times the protein recommended by
Dr. Mollen's Anti-Aging Diet (1gm/3lbs).  If you take in *any* extra
protein beyond what you need to generate new muscle the excess nitrogen
will end up being excreted by your kidneys which is not good for them in
the long run.

The two questions you would need to answer are:
  1) What amount of mass will your workout and hormone levels allow you
     to gain on a daily basis.
  2) What percentage of this additional mass is protein.
Then, additional-mass/day * protein-fraction will determine how much
additional protein you should add to your diet.

>Avoid fats.  Eat chicken and rice and pasta, among others.
Good advice if you trim the fat off of the chicken.

>There are supplements you'll want to take,
>and all of the "weight gainers" are low-cal and high calorie/carbohydrate.

Most of the supplements I've seen are yeast/soy based and tend to be very
high in amino-acids (protein) for the purpose of providing those "extra"
amino-acids you need to build muscle mass.  As pointed out above excess
consumption of foods of this type is probably not good.

>If you exercise a few times
>a week, heavy, and eat perhaps 2000 calories more per day, than you
>normally do (use supplements), then you'll gain good weight.  

This raises the issue of people desiring the "image" society pushes on
us (thin women, muscular men) when it may not actually be the logical
choice from a health standpoint.  For example, look at the numbers of
male teenagers who are trying to take the easy way out by taking steroids
to build muscle mass.  This behavior will have very long term negative
consequences for their bodies.  Ultimately some working out is very
beneficial to build up heart and lung reserve capacity, increase numbers
of mitochondria, reduce fat, increase muscle density, etc.  At some point
our quest for the "perfect body" actually starts working against us as
the increased food intake (with the associated xenobiotics) and oxygen
intake (leading to free radical damage) required for intense exercise
regimens result in a faster rate of aging and a diminished lifespan.
You also have the phenomena that many people go through "phases" where
they build muscles for a couple of years and then stop.  If they do
not make severe alterations in their calorie intake much of the muscle
will be replaced by fat.  Then you end up as an elderly person with
a body with a high fat content and lower muscle strength with the
problems associated with years of placing excess stress on your joints
and tendons.

So my advice would be to think carefully about what weight gain might
cost you, whether that is worth it and whether you are prepared
to maintain it once you have it.
-- 
Robert Bradbury			uunet!sftwks!bradbury

Death is an imposition on the human race, and no longer acceptable
				Alan Harrington, The Immortalist (1969)
Newsgroups: sci.med.nutrition