John Speakman

flying carrion crow against blue sky. Aberdeen, Scotland, UK. August 2025. Nikon Z9 with 200mm f2.8 lens. 1/10000s

Home | RACMEM Recent Advances and Controversies in the Measurement of Energy Metabolism

RACMEM 2025
Abstract submission for contributed short talks and posters is now open. There will be a bunch of 500 USD prizes for the best talks and posters, by ECRs, post docs and students. Abstract submission form at
racmem.com

wood pigeon on silver birch tree. Aberdeen. May 2025.

Chinese pond heron in summer plumage. May 2025. Shenzhen. Nikon z6.

Scarce and unpredictable, yet obesogenic: modeling the impact of food insecurity on adiposity in mice Click on the article title to read more.

Food insecurity drives obesity and adiposity, but how is unclear.
A recent study by @clemmensenc.bsky.social developed a mouse model for this phenomenon lnkd.in/d8pEp2qv
Happy to share a commentary written with @johnspeakman4.bsky.social with our take on that study
doi.org/10.1002/oby....

nice paper.

Check out this great commentary by @bartolomuccilab.bsky.social and @johnspeakman4.bsky.social on our recent paper, that investigates the role of #foodinsecurity on energy homeostasis and #adiposity in mice 💡

Chowing down: diet considerations in rodent models of metabolic disease - PubMed Diet plays a substantial role in the etiology, progression, and treatment of chronic disease and is best considered as a multifaceted set of modifiable input variables with pleiotropic effects on a va...

Issues of diet design in rodent studies discussed here with @kevinh-phd.bsky.social @johnspeakman4.bsky.social

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37485302/

Home | RACMEM Recent Advances and Controversies in the Measurement of Energy Metabolism

RACMEM 2025 to be held in Shenzhen 13th to 17th October is now open for registration. Please spread the word.

www.racmem.org

The clinical antiprotozoal drug halofuginone promotes weight loss by elevating GDF15 and FGF21 Halofuginone curbs weight gain in mice and pigs.

Looking for new drugs to treat obesity by repurposing old ones. Very happy to have been part of this study looking at the weight loss effects of Halofuginone acting via both FGF21 and GDF15. In Science Advances

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Coming soon.
Registration for RACMEM 2025 to be held in Shenzhen China will open in early April.
Keep an eye on the site www.racmem.com places limited to 230. please retweet (or whatever the equivalent is on here)

Testing the carbohydrate-insulin model: Short-term metabolic responses to consumption of meals with varying glycemic index in healthy adults Liu et al. show that meals with different glycemic indices affected glucose and insulin levels, consistent with the carbohydrate-insulin model (CIM), but this was not linked to subjective hunger diffe...

the carbohydrate insulin model doesn't work.....

www.cell.com/cell-metabol...

I have been trying to get funding since our 2021 paper to continue this work so yes of course I think its important. Maybe the translational relevance will now be more evident -even if its just a small study.

I think maybe Steve Simpsons group maybe showed some effect before we did but not down to such low protein levels.

Very-low-protein diets lead to reduced food intake and weight loss, linked to inhibition of hypothalamic mTOR signaling, in mice Wu et al. investigated how very low levels of dietary protein affect energy balance by exposing mice to diets containing 1%–20% protein. Very low protein caused decreased food intake despite activated...

In mice the expenditure phenotype is complex. At 2.5 and 5% protein EE is elevated by about 25% relative to 10 and 20% protein, but 1% protein has no effect. Human data in this paper seems consistent with the 2,5 and 5% effect. (see wu et al 2021 cell metabolism) www.cell.com/cell-metabol...

Sorry didn't see link in first post. This seems a BIG effect on metabolic rate. But solid team doing the work.

Thanks Dan for posting.

what's the source of the paper?

Thirty odd years ago I had a similar experience flying into Munich airport in Germany. The pilot announcement in that case was "Sorry about that, a deer ran out into the middle of the runway."

American nutrition a top priority for MAHA as the 'Knowledge Doc' weighs in "The Knowledge Doc" Eric Berg is taking a stand in the fight for better nutrition as RFK Jr. moves to challenge food industry to "Make America Healthy Again."

MAHA nutrition advisor & chiropractor says the 1st nutrition issue he wants addressed is the 'food pyramid', a USDA food guide tool that was sunset in 2011 (it's been MyPlate since).

Glad to see we are finally taking nutrition very seriously.

www.foxnews.com/food-drink/a...

Yellow-eyed penguin. OPERA Eco reserve. Otago peninsula, near Dunedin, South island, New Zealand.

Paradise shelduck in the afternoon sun. New Zealand endemic. Christchurch. Feb 2025. Nikon z6 with 120mm lens. F4 1/3200s

University of Canterbury. Christchurch, New Zealand. Feb 2025

Gannet coming in to land looking like a ballerina. They are so graceful in the air but so clumsy on the ground. Murawai gannet colony, North Island, New Zealand. February 2025. Nikon z9 with 200mm 1/4000s f14.

Australasian Gannet in flight. Murawai gannet colony. North Island, New Zealand. February 2025. Nikon Z9 with 200mm lens. 1/3200s f14

The new formula is only slightly less precise than the one using FFM when the same ranges are included. That's with FFM by deuterium dilution. Since BIA is worse than deut dilution I'd guess it will be worse. But note new equation uses much more than weight.

Swamp hen adult. Auckland. New Zealand. January 2025. Nikon Z9 200mm lens. 1/4000s f5.6.

How robust are the links between #diet, #obesity, and #health? A new study in @naturefood.bsky.social suggests some fundamental flaws.
HT: @johnspeakman4.bsky.social
conscienhealth.org/2025/01/the-...

Spur-winged plover. Auckland. New Zealand. Nikon z9 200mm lens. hand held 1/4000s f8

Immature swamp hen stepping out. PiHa North Island, New Zealand. January 2025. Nikon Z9 200mm + 2x converter. 1/4000 f8