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OK, it's on.
We really are getting wider.
- Thread starter digital angel
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BigApplePi
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Unless I missed it, that article didn't offer any theory for why this should happen. So I ask, if this is a surprise, what other skeletal surprises did they miss? The head, foot, etc. should be measured. Does this waist size increase because we are sitting? Some evolutionary advantage? Is it even true, as I didn't check if they were measuring different generations which might have different diets? Gimme a break. They wouldn't make that mistake would they?
Architectonic
Active Member
BigApplePi asks some good questions, I'd like to see a longitudinal study done.
The full article (open access) is here:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jor.21469/abstract
The full article (open access) is here:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jor.21469/abstract
BigApplePi
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Okay. We will make a study of the size of your waste waist over the next 50 years and report the results back here in 2061.
Architectonic
Active Member
That'll get us an IG-Nobel prize for sure!
descendant
Member
but I can still wear my jeans and skirts from 10 years ago 
which means that my pelvic has stopped getting wider!
which means that my pelvic has stopped getting wider!
BigApplePi
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Your data points must be included and we hope they don't skew the survey. Accuracy is our highest priority even beyond proving what we wish were true.
digital angel
Well-Known Member
Okay. We will make a study of the size of yourwastewaist over the next 50 years and report the results back here in 2061.
Excellent. The Nobel Price will go to the members of this forum.
BigApplePi
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That's what they said after they invented the wheel, the pencil, the carpet and the calculus.
Jah
Mu.
Architectonic
Active Member
Okay. We will make a study of the size of yourwastewaist over the next 50 years and report the results back here in 2061.
Ok, I've run into a problem: I don't have access to a CT scanner.
Nor one of those sliding waist measurement ruler things that I'm sure must exist, though I've never actually seen one.
BigApplePi
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Not to worry. INTPs are idea people. Let other do these menial physical tasks.
scorpiomover
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The study shows something very interesting, that as we age, the shape of our bones changes, and not just the amount of bone we have.
We know that bone loses mass quite rapidly in astronauts. So we already know that the amount of bone changes, in response to pressure from gravity. But what is very interesting to me, is that it shows that the body even cuts back on bone when gravity is no longer present.
It makes sense that if there is more pressure on the bones, that more will grow. But why should it LOSE bone, when bone is not needed?
The bones are in a steady-state system. Bones are living tissue. Bones break down, and more bone is made to replace it. But if the pressure is reduced on the bone, then bones continue to break down, but less is made to replace it, because it's not needed.
However, why then would our bones change shape?
There is another thing that occurs to me. On another forum, someone was discussing bodily development, and explained something that had troubled me for a long time. How do our muscles, skin, and bone, know just where to grow? They grow slightly differently for different people. Yet they pretty much are in proportion. How is this possible?
He explained that as our body grows, the cells divide and change to become the appropriate cells, according to the positioning of the other cells. So your body doesn't really need to say "Put bone here". One only needs each cell to output certain hormones, and the ratios will naturally allow each cell to position itself according to the body's needs.
We can already see that the study shows our bones continue to grow throughout life. If the bone grows using the same simple but effective mechanism as it did in our embryonic development, and in our youth, then as our body requires a stronger skeletal structure to support it, the bone will develop as needed, changing shape as well as mass.
If that is the case, if we consider that our legs and our pelvis form a tripod, with which to support our weight. As we gain more weight in our stomach area, gaining more mass would not be enough to reasonably support that weight. Our tripod would need to expand as well, to handle the extra weight. Thus, our bones may simply be doing what comes naturally to our body, adjusting for greater weight.
It would be interesting to test this correlation between pelvic width and age, between people who have never gained a pound, and to people who gained a lot of weight quickly and then lost it just as quickly, and to people who gained it slowly, over several years, and then lost it very quickly.
Also, considering what David Kessler said about messages priming us for eating, it would be interesting to see if the same phenomenon was found in cultures where there are no such messages and where food is scarce, say in those traditional African tribes where most people are very skinny and expect to be skinny, and who aren't exposed to mass marketing messages. We might find that they don't have this gain in pelvic width.
We know that bone loses mass quite rapidly in astronauts. So we already know that the amount of bone changes, in response to pressure from gravity. But what is very interesting to me, is that it shows that the body even cuts back on bone when gravity is no longer present.
It makes sense that if there is more pressure on the bones, that more will grow. But why should it LOSE bone, when bone is not needed?
The bones are in a steady-state system. Bones are living tissue. Bones break down, and more bone is made to replace it. But if the pressure is reduced on the bone, then bones continue to break down, but less is made to replace it, because it's not needed.
However, why then would our bones change shape?
There is another thing that occurs to me. On another forum, someone was discussing bodily development, and explained something that had troubled me for a long time. How do our muscles, skin, and bone, know just where to grow? They grow slightly differently for different people. Yet they pretty much are in proportion. How is this possible?
He explained that as our body grows, the cells divide and change to become the appropriate cells, according to the positioning of the other cells. So your body doesn't really need to say "Put bone here". One only needs each cell to output certain hormones, and the ratios will naturally allow each cell to position itself according to the body's needs.
We can already see that the study shows our bones continue to grow throughout life. If the bone grows using the same simple but effective mechanism as it did in our embryonic development, and in our youth, then as our body requires a stronger skeletal structure to support it, the bone will develop as needed, changing shape as well as mass.
If that is the case, if we consider that our legs and our pelvis form a tripod, with which to support our weight. As we gain more weight in our stomach area, gaining more mass would not be enough to reasonably support that weight. Our tripod would need to expand as well, to handle the extra weight. Thus, our bones may simply be doing what comes naturally to our body, adjusting for greater weight.
It would be interesting to test this correlation between pelvic width and age, between people who have never gained a pound, and to people who gained a lot of weight quickly and then lost it just as quickly, and to people who gained it slowly, over several years, and then lost it very quickly.
Also, considering what David Kessler said about messages priming us for eating, it would be interesting to see if the same phenomenon was found in cultures where there are no such messages and where food is scarce, say in those traditional African tribes where most people are very skinny and expect to be skinny, and who aren't exposed to mass marketing messages. We might find that they don't have this gain in pelvic width.