Office of the
Executive Vice President and Provost

2007-2008 University Distinguished Lecture Series

Title: Beyond Calories

George Bray, M.D.
Boyd Professor
Pennington Biomedical Research Center
Louisiana State University

March 25, 2008, 7:30 p.m.
Auditorium, Annenberg Presidential Conference Center
Texas A&M University

About the Speaker

Dr. Bray is an internationally recognized researcher whose major research interests have been in obesity and diabetes. He recently retired as the executive director of Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Over his 43 years in medicine, he authored more than 1,300 scientific papers and abstracts, presented more than 200 invited lectures and more than 100 radio and television interview, and have been awarded 14 research grants centered on his research interests. Before joining the faculty at LSU, Dr. Bray was professor of medicine and professor physiology/biophysics and chief of diabetes and clinical nutrition at the University of Southern California. Dr. Bray earned his A.B. from Brown University and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School.

Abstract

Americans have been getting fatter and this is shortening their life expectancy. Recent data - the missing link - definitively shows that losing weight reduces mortality. The trend for overweight has accelerated in the recent years to the detriment of all. Why is this occurring? What can we do about it? In its simplest form, we get fat, because we ingest more energy than we expend. Obesity is a disease of impaired energy balance. For most people this occurs slowly over months or years. But, we are rarely in energy balance over short periods of time. We eat meals which put us in positive energy balance and then we withdraw energy from energy stores that are many times larger than our daily intake. Although disorder energy balance is the ultimate explanation for excess body fat, it doesn't tell how this occurs. For example it does tell us how genetic factors work, why men are different from women, how food intake and energy expenditure are regulated or how this changes with time. Two obvious changes have been the increasing size of food portions that are available to us, and the increased use of calorically sweetened beverages that stimulate further energy intake.

To understand the way some of these factors work, and epidemiological model helps. There are factors such as food intake, exercise, medications, toxins and viruses. Intrauterine factors, such as a mother's smoking during pregnancy, a diabetic mother are important influences. In the early years of childhood, breast feeding, the family environment, several genes, and sleep patterns are known to influence the degree of weight gain. In our medicated environment a number of classes of drugs can affect weight gain or weight loss. To solve this problem of obesity and its negative impact on health and longevity will require concerted and long-term effort.

Admission to lectures is by ticket only.
Free tickets are available from the MSC Box Office, 979-845-1234.