My last post about rubidium kept me pondering and studying my food intake records and the research I have read, and I think that I am wrong about rubidium being pivotal in fighting obesity. Rubidium is a unique element, and the scientists and nutritionists researching obesity would have observed an effect from the presence of rubidium by now if it were significant.
What might instead have escaped their notice? Perhaps a less common isomer of a common molecule. As I learned more about ethylene (C2H4, which I tangentially noted in my last post appears important to fighting obesity), I realized that its structure and size could allow it to be a stabilizing companion to an otherwise unstable small molecule. One paper I looked at reported that heating banana pseudostem mixed with chromium (Cr(III)) could result in the creation of O-C=O (actually the resonant O-C=O <=> O=C-O, called COO in the paper text) (See Table 2 of https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/11/4250?fbclid=IwAR1sd7RhNJjCX7wJPMv01FhXAuVuOrHomQrmnyV1ODLuXGRyjjAMImQpc3Y).
COO (i.e., O-C=O) is a relatively unstable, polar structural isomer of CO2 (carbon dioxide). Carbon dioxide is a nonpolar molecule that is often released as a gas by biochemical processes and so common as to be unremarkable most of the time. COO could thus easily be overlooked by most nutrition and medical researchers or mistaken for CO2. Further, many people in the world routinely use microwave ovens now, which appliances twist around polar molecules and so would help destroy COO.
If ethylene can help stabilize COO, COO would be able to react with other molecules, including choline. I think it might be forming an oxycarbonylcholine molecule (it should look like acetylcholine but without a final CH3) that can interact with the human body's cholinergic system in yet-to-be-revealed ways. There are many indications that the cholinergic system is involved in resistance to obesity (e.g., https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12678839/).
So here's a summary of my current working hypothesis:
1) Heat up silicon-containing moist biocellulose with Cr(VI) to a temperature of around 500-600 Celsius (via broiling in an oven, toasting in a toaster, frying in a real wok, etc.) to form O-C=O. The Cr(VI) is apparently obtained by putting Cr(III) in sunlight (for the UV-A light) for a while, although Cr(VI) is probably on some kitchen utensils, too.
2) Stabilize the O-C=O in solution with C2H4 (ethylene). Ethylene can come from many sources, but we don't get as much of it in our produce nowadays as we used to. It can also be produced by Mucor hiemalis (or a relative thereof) when it is exposed to oxygen (that introduces the possibility that roux-en-y gastric bypass is so effective because of the way it allows a much higher level of oxygen to reach the distal small intestine). Depending on their form, chlorine compounds and ions (as well as possibly other halides) can react with C2H4 to prevent it from being a stable companion to O-C=O.
3) Make an ester of O-C=O and choline to obtain oxycarbonylcholine. (I think potassium might interfere with this esterification but the potassium can be diverted by being "tied up" with lactic acid, especially in the presence of sodium. I'm still looking into this issue.)
I'm going to try different food preparation methods to test this hypothesis while I read up more about the cholinergic system. In the meantime, I invite others with more resources to start looking for a connection between O-C=O and leanness. It's hard to find what we're not looking for.
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