Interesting Links for 03-06-2024

[andrewducker]

1. A message to England on their treatment of trans kids

(tags:transgender children LGBT UK OhForFucksSake )

2. NHS 'pen-pushers' are doing a great job

(tags:nhs bureaucracy UK healthcare efficiency )

3. Ursula K. Le Guin on How to Become a Writer

(tags:UrsulaKLegGuin writing )

4. EU rebuffs Labour hopes for softer Brexit as too ambitious

(tags:uk europe labour doom )

5. Ozempic and Wegovy Might Be Supercharging Your Taste Buds

(tags:weight taste sweets sugar )

6. Britain going backwards on trans rights, warns first transgender judge

(tags:uk bigotry lgbt transgender )

Comments

5

[anna_wing]

The mechanism for the increase in taste sensitivity would be interesting to know. Would the effect be basically a speeding-up of normal habituation? My understanding is that the GLP-1 agonists reduce obsessive thoughts about food ("food noise"), thus helping their users develop and become accustomed to healthier eating habits, which can then be maintained more easily once they are at healthy weight and off the medication.

I spent a fortnight in Japan once, eating nothing but Japanese food, and my ability to differentiate among low-intensity flavours definitely went up, simply from the absence of the much higher level of spicing and flavouring that I was used to (my food is subtle, yours is bland, his has no taste except salt and sugar).

Re: 5

[andrewducker]

That would make sense.

I certainly find that when I stop eating/drinking things that are heavily sweetened then everything else tastes "realer" after a few days. Like I've turned up the volume on their natural flavours.