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Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Japanese McDonald's Ads

Tuesday, November 16, 2004 at 12:03 EST by Joey deVilla
It would appear that today's entries are following a "fast food" theme today. I hadn't planned it that way, but I'm on a roll now.

You may have seen these already -- I downloaded the videos last week and planned to post them, only to be beaten by BoingBoing and MetaFilter -- but in case you haven't, check out these ads for a new Japanese McDonald's burger, the Tomato McGrand. There's one with a sexy female model [690K Windows Media video] and one with a sexy male model [710K Windows media video], both done up like Ronald McDonald.

Photo: Stills from Japanese promo for a new McDonald's burger, the 'Tomato McGrand'.

You can find all the ads on this page.
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"Reverse Marijuana"

Tuesday, November 16, 2004 at 11:45 EST by Joey deVilla
If all this talk about fast food is giving you uncontrollable urges to sink into a fatty burger and extra-large fries, you might be please to learn the existence of N-piperidino-5-(4-chlorophenyl)-1-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-4-methylpyrazole-3-carboxamide, also known by the generic name "rimonabant" and soon to be marketed under the brand name "Acomplia". This drug is known as "the munchies drug" because it acts like marijuana in reverse: it blocks the brain circuits that get triggered whenever you smoke pot. Christian "The Facts About Fitness" Finn has written a quick summary about Acomplia, citing some test results:

Dr. Jean-Pierre Despres of Laval University in Quebec City enrolled 1,036 overweight volunteers. All had large pot bellies that put them at especially high risk of heart disease. They were told to cut their daily calorie intake by 600 calories a day and randomly given either rimonabant or a dummy pill.

After one year, those who got the higher of two doses of rimonabant had lost an average of 20 pounds and trimmed three inches from their waistlines. By comparison, those using the placebo lost just five pounds.

He also points out the observed side effects:

The most common side effects where incidence was higher with rimonabant than placebo were nausea and dizziness. And more of the people using rimonabant dropped out because of the side effects. The drop-out rate due to side effects was 6.9% in the rimonabant group versus 3.8% with placebo.

And not everyone is convinced that rimonabant will be safe to use.

Dr. Gareth Pryce, who has conducted research into cannabinoids at the Institute of Neurology, London, is concerned that the drug might not be safe for some patients to take.

"My group has carried out animal research that showed interference with the cannabis receptor in the brain may have a damaging effect on the progression of multiple sclerosis," he says.

"There are also concerns about the possible impact on people who have a stroke, or head injury while taking the drug. My other concern is it could exacerbate neurological diseases that had previously been clinically silent."

In the end, it still boils down to the laws of thermodynamics: in order to lose weight, you have to expend more energy than you consume.

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Dammit, Sarge, You Broke My Irony Meter

Tuesday, November 16, 2004 at 11:27 EST by Joey deVilla
Photo: Newspaper clipping resting on American flag. Clipping has a letter home from a solider that say 'the children of Iraq will never get to see or eat at a McDonalds, BK, KFC and so forth. We should be thankful at all times.

I found this in a collection of images in a file collection site that I'm not allowed to talk about ("The first rule of {site X} is that you don't talk about {site X}"). I thought it might be interesting in light of the previous entry...

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Notify Morgan Spurlock!

Tuesday, November 16, 2004 at 01:08 EST by Joey deVilla
[Morgan Spurlock is the writer, director and star of Super Size Me]

Photo: Hardee's new Monster Thickburger.

The sandwich pictured above is the "Monster Thickburger" being introduced by the hamburger chain Hardee's. Its ingredients are:
  • Two 1/3-pound burgers
  • Four strips of bacon
  • Three slices of process cheese (a.k.a. "American cheese")
  • Buttered toasted sesame seed bun
All this makes for a sandwich that has 1420 calories and 107 grams of fat. For the typically recommended 2000-calorie diet, the maximum recommended total fat is 65 grams, and only 20 of those can be saturated fat.

On the other end of the scale, a Hardees spokesperson says that they will soon introduce a barbecue chicken sandwich that has only 300 calories and 4 grams of fat.
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