Health Habits

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Posts Tagged ‘metabolic disease’

Obesity Isn’t The Disease…It’s Only A Symptom

March 12th, 2010

I read an interesting study the other day.

In this study, the researchers argued that when it comes to Metabolic Syndrome (hypertension, dyslipidaemia, glucose intolerance, hyperinsulinemia, central adiposity {big belly}, high blood sugar) obesity may actually be a good thing.

Here’s why.

Metabolic Syndrome is a result of our Standard American Diet
The S.A.D. combination of too many calories and the over-consumption of sugar + fat-centric meals causes…
An increase in the secretion of insulin. When this happens on a regular basis, we end up with…
hyperinsulinemia, which…
Causes the expression of the lipogenic transcription factor SREBP-1c and its target enzymes and so on and so on and so on until we end up with Metabolic Syndrome and all of the wonderful ailments I mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Sounds pretty grim, doesn’t it?

And the first thing that your doctor is going to tell you if she suspects you have Metabolic Syndrome is to lose weight.

As if obesity is the cause of Metabolic Syndrome.

But, it ain’t.

We know that our bodies respond to our Standard American Diet by increasing the amount of circulating insulin.

This leads to an increase in body-fat.

Common sense tells us that this is bad.

These researchers disagree.

They propose that this new body-fat delays, rather than causes, the metabolic syndrome induced by chronic caloric surplus.

They argue that subcutaneous fat in general exerts a positive effect on insulin sensitivity. Subcutaneous fat is the body-fat that exists between your muscles and your skin – we’re not talking that solid “beer belly” kind of fat.

This “healthy” type of adipose tissue is genetically determined and has a strong sexually dimorphic component as well. Females, at any given body mass index, are protected against insulin resistance more than males.

And if we prevent insulin resistance…we prevent Metabolic Syndrome.

To test this hypothesis further, the researchers bred obesity resistance mice with with db/db mice, which normally become obese and develop severe metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes (T2DM) by the age of 8–10 weeks.

Sucks to be a db/db mouse.

They ended up with some mice who stayed lean despite their voracious appetites.

Unfortunately, these mice developed Metabolic Syndrome in 4 weeks instead of the typical 8-10 weeks.

The researchers concluded that body-fat is a normal response designed to permit stockpiling of fuels while simultaneously protecting our lipid-intolerant organs.

Metabolic syndrome appears only after the storage capacity of the adipocyte compartment has reached a maximum, at which point a gradual accumulation of ectopic fatty acids begins.

Ectopic means “not where it’s supposed to be”. It accumulates in the abdominal region (beer belly), the liver, muscle tissue including the heart, the pancreas, and perhaps in lipid-rich deposits in the arteries.

Obesity should therefore not be regarded as a pathology or disease, but rather as the normal, physiologic response to sustained caloric surplus without which the advent of metabolic syndrome is accelerated.

Conclusions

Obesity isn’t a disease
It’s a symptom of another disease – Metabolic Syndrome
It’s better to have squishy, subcutaneous fat than the big, hard beer belly kind of fat

My Suggestion

Stop thinking of obesity as a health issue unto itself.

If obesity is a result of something else, you need to know what that cause is and then take action to reverse the problem.

You can start by dumping the Standard American Diet and replace it with something more Mediterranean or Asian or Paleo.

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Vinegar is a Fat-Burning, Waist Shrinking, Cholesterol Lowering Superfood

October 15th, 2009

In yesterday’s post, I introduced you to a study which showed that plain ole’ vinegar is effective in suppressing body fat accumulation.

More specifically, the researchers found that laboratory mice fed a high-fat diet and given acetic acid developed significantly less body fat (up to 10 percent less) than other mice.

I was so excited by this low-tech, inexpensive weight loss trick that I contacted the author of the study.

And to my surprise, he emailed an even more recent study which looks at the fat-burning effects of vinegar on actual human beings….no more mice studies.

The Science

In this study, researchers investigated the effects of vinegar intake on the reduction of body-fat mass in obese Japanese students.

The 175 students were randomly assigned to three groups of similar body-weight, BMI and waist circumference.

During the 12 week study, the participants ingested 500ml daily of a beverage containing either 15 ml of apple vinegar (750 mg AcOH – acetic acid), 30 ml of vinegar (1500 mg AcOH) or 0 ml of vinegar (0 mg AcOH, placebo).

In place of vinegar, the placebo group ingested 1250 mg of lactate.

To make them more palatable, all beverages contained the equal amount of flavor and artificial sweetener.

The Results

After only 4 weeks, the vinegar-group participants saw their body-weight, BMI and body-fat percentages improve. These improvements continued in a dose dependent manner for the entire 12 weeks

Translation: more vinegar = more fat loss

In addition to BF, BMI and BF%, waist circumference, waist-hip ratio, LDL cholesterol and serum TG (triglyceride) levels also fell (starting in week 8).

These results can be considered to be due to the body-fat loss because the VFA (visceral fat), SFA (subcutaneous fat) and TFA (total fat) values were significantly lower in the vinegar groups than in the placebo group.

Does the vinegar make these "diet" chips?

Conclusion

15 ml (0.5 oz or 1 tbsp) of vinegar per day is enough to significantly improve your:

Body-Weight
BMI
Body-Fat Percentage
Waist Circumference
Waist-Hip ratio
LDL Cholesterol
Serum TG
Visceral Body-Fat, and
Subcutaneous Body-Fat

And considering that these health markers are associated with type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke and metabolic syndrome, perhaps it might be wise to consider adding a tbsp or two of vinegar to your daily diet.

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Fighting Fat With Vinegar

October 14th, 2009

Your Grandma was right.

It turns out that the acetic acid found in plain ole’ vinegar is effective in suppressing body fat accumulation.

The Science

Earlier this year, Japanese researchers found that laboratory mice fed a high-fat diet and given acetic acid developed significantly less body fat (up to 10 percent less) than other mice.

Based upon their findings, the scientists believe that acetic acid fights fat by turning on genes for fatty acid oxidation enzymes. The genes churn out proteins involved in breaking down fats, thus suppressing body fat accumulation in the body.

link to the study

Conclusion

Vinegar is cheap, harmless and versatile in the kitchen.

It may also help you metabolize sugars more efficiently, lower blood pressure and lose weight.

What do you have to lose?

Links to more vinegary/weight loss research

Journal of Agricultural Food & Chemistry - A study showing the fat-burning benefits of vinegar
Agricultural and Biological Chemistry – Vinegar controls insulin response to carbs
European Journal of Clinical Nutrition – Vinegar supplementation lowers glucose and insulin responses and increases satiety after a bread meal in healthy subjects
Medscape General Medicine – Vinegar: Medicinal Uses and Antiglycemic Effect

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Doctors Ignore Obesity

September 30th, 2009

Obesity costs America $147 billion each and every year.
It’s linked to cancer…
and diabetes…
and depression….
and generally ain’t that good for you

So, how come “many overweight patients are not being advised to lose weight, diet, or exercise”.

In fact, when it comes to medical intervention in cases of obesity, the numbers are as follows:

Having a doctor tell the patient about the health problems associated with being overweight (48.0%),
Suggesting diet and exercise (46.5%),
Referring the patient to a formal diet program (5.2%),
Prescribing a weight loss medication (4.0%),
Recommending a non-prescription weight loss product (1.8%),
Recommending stomach bypass surgery (1.5%).

I don’t know about you, but considering that obesity is fast becoming the western world’s #1 health issue, I think that the global medical community should be taking obesity prevention/treatment much more seriously.

I don’t know if it’s a lack of knowledge or the threat of discrimination lawsuits or the frustration of being ignored by obese patients over and over and over, but if we want to reverse the tide of obesity related disease, real steps need to be taken.

The time for talk is over.

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Here's why you NEED aerobic exercise

April 19th, 2009

Let’s face it. Cardio is boring.

Running laps around a track or pedaling away like some spandex wearing gerbil.

Boring.

But,according to the authors of this new study, “your personal aerobic fitness is not something you will see in the mirror but it is an important predictor of your long-term health,”

“The most important part of physical activity is protecting yourself from diseases that can be fatal or play a significant role in increasing the risk factors for other metabolic diseases.”

The Study

Fatty Liver

For years, we have known that poor aerobic fitness is associated with obesity, heart disease, stroke and diabetes. This new study adds another serious condition to the list – non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)

The study also suggests that the resulting liver problems play a crucial step developing obesity-related illnesses. In fact, the study authors think that “Fatty liver disease will be the next big metabolic disorder associated with obesity and inactivity.”

So, to test the link between aerobic fitness and fatty liver disease, the researcher bred a strain of genetically unfit rats. These couch-potato rats could only run an average of 200m compared to over 1500m for the average fit rat.

Leaving both strains of rats to their own devices, the researchers noticed that at 25 weeks, the unfit rats showed clear signs of fatty liver. “By the end of their natural lives, the rats’ livers had sustained damage including fibrosis (the precursor to cirrhosis) and unexpected cell death”.

In contrast, the ‘fit’ group enjoyed heathy livers throughout their lifespans – despite the fact that neither group was getting any real exercise.

The team’s findings provide the first biochemical links between low aerobic fitness and fatty liver disease, and have lead the authors to suggest that NAFLD could potentially be treated or prevented by a suitable exercise program.

Conclusion

Aerobic exercise is boring
Aerobic exercise prevents fatty liver disease
You don’t want fatty liver disease, so
Get movin’

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It's the insulin, stupid

December 18th, 2008

It’s official:

Hell has frozen over.

The MSM (Main Stream Medical) Community has actually come around and agreed that diet and lifestyle changes have been successful in preventing Type 2 Diabetes in high risk populations.

Not DRUGS.

Diet and Lifestyle.

And wait, it gets better.

They are also beginning to realize that anti-hyperglycemic medications (designed to improve glycemic control in type 2 diabetes) may not be the cardiovascular superstars that their manufacturers make them out to be.

This can’t be true!

Diet and lifestyle kicking some pharmaceutical butt!

But wait. I just realized:

Phizer can’t patent broccoli.

Merck slap a trademark on exercise……Joseph Pilates beat ‘em to it.

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What will Big Pharma do?

If they’re smart, they are going to start doing research like this:

Effect of a Low–Glycemic Index
or a High–Cereal Fiber Diet on Type 2 Diabetes

David J. A. Jenkins, MD

David J. A. Jenkins, MD is the man credited with developing the Glycemic Index.

The goal of his new study was to assess the effect of a low–glycemic index diet in an adequately powered study of patients with type 2 diabetes controlled by oral medications with HbA1c concentrations between 6.5% and 8.0%. At these levels, a reduction in glycemia and associated risk factors for diabetes complications are likely to be observed more clearly.

He selected a high–cereal fiber diet treatment for its suggested health benefits for the comparison so that the potential value of carbohydrate foods could be emphasized equally for both high–cereal fiber and low–glycemic index interventions.

And here are the low-glycemic-vs-high-fiber-diet-menus.

These are the only differences between the two diets:

High Fiber v.s Low Glycemic

Weetabix v.s Red River cereal
Whole wheat bread v.s Quinoa bread
Margarine v.s Peanut butter
Cantaloupe v.s orange

Brown rice v.s Spaghetti, al dente
Grapes v.s. Apple

Baked potato v.s Lentils
Margarine v.s Tomato sauce

Whole wheat toast v.s Finland rye pita

The Results

Dr. Jenkins was most interested in the dietary effects on A1c blood levels (A1c reflects long term blood glucose levels)

After 6 months, the low GI group lowered their A1c by 0.50% while the high fiber group lowered it by only 0.18%

Additionally, The low GI group saw an increase in their HDL (the “good” cholesterol), while the high fiber group saw a decrease.

Their conclusion:

In patients with type 2 diabetes, 6-month treatment with a low–glycemic index diet resulted in moderately lower HbA1c levels compared with a high–cereal fiber diet….or in English

Low-glycemic index diets may be useful as part of the strategy to improve glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes taking (glucose-lowering) medications

My conclusion:

It’s the insulin, stupid.

Control your insulin and you regain some control over the chronic diseases and conditions so many of our neighbors are plagued with – obesity, diabetes, metabolic disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc…

Control your insulin by controlling your carbohydrates.

Control your insulin by following a Mediterranean style diet or a Paleo / Caveman diet or an Atkins / low carbs diet.

Or, control your insulin by replacing processed foods with natural, home-made versions.

Or, control your insulin by eating less bread

Or…

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Health Habits

Posts Tagged ‘metabolic disease’