Whoa.    They start out categorizing insulin as an CATABOLIC (ie,
tissue-decreasing) hormone.  Everything else I know about insulin is
as an ANABOLIC (tissue-building) hormone.   They say that insulin's
effect on the brain is to reduce hunger.  The story I know about
insulin is that having chronically high insulin can lead to craving
carbs.  I followed their diagram and claim back to
 http://www.saegre.org.ar/docs/schwartz_2000.pdf
and they seem to have a point, tho.

In the tissues, insulin is signaling
 -to fat tissue to take in more glucose and let go of less fatty
acid.
- to muscle tissue to take in both more glucose (building glucogen)
and amino acids (building muscle tissue.)
- to the liver, to stop breaking down glucogen into glucose.
All of these are anabolic.

But according to Schwarz, at the same time insulin is ALSO signaling
to the brain to stop eating. So I guess that means that insulin is (at
the whole-body level) both anabolic *and* catabolic.

Can that be right?
* * * *

Frank, thanks for the link.  This one's a keeper.  I'd been wanting to
read up on the whole grehlin / leptin axis and this seems eminently
readable.

Also of great interest is their discussion of the endocannibinoids in
weight control.  I haven't seen anybody else say this.  So let me
offer

ADAM BECKER'S PREDICTION ABOUT ENDOCANNIBINOIDS AND DIET

GIVEN:
1) Endocannibinoids play a central role in body weight management
(homeostasis.)
2) All the well-studied endocannibinoids are derived from arachidonic-
acid (AA), which is also the parent of the main class of omega-6
eicosanoids.
3) The effects of the omega-6 eicosanoids are, at every metabolic
step, intertwined with the omega-3 essential fatty acids, especially
EPA.
4) In inflammation, dietary EPA (i.e. fish oil) has enormous control
on the effects of AA and its derivatives.  This is because EPA enters
the same enzymatic pathways as AA, and its products compete with AA's
products.
5) It has already been shown in pigs that EPA enters the cannabinoid
pathways and produces EPA-derived analogues of the AA-derived
endocannibinoids.

THEREFORE I WILL GO OUT ON A LIMB AND PREDICT

6) In a few years, we will see a flood of reports showing that eating
omega-3 oils, especially EPA, has significant effects on the mix of
endocannibinoids in the CNS.  And those effects will translate into
measurable differences (I'd guess improvements) in the way the body
regulates its weight and its muscle/fat composition.

Adam Becker Sr