How does weight (fat) do its damage?...Part II

DrHardacre

In Part I we established overweight/obesity as an inflammatory condition largely through adipokines. But why should that matter? The most dangerous component of this inflammation is its "silent" nature. Excess fat cells soon turn to toxic fat dumping the inflammatory messengers (adipokines). Now the vicious cycle between metabolism and inflammation spiral, but you feel nothing. Therefore, the perception of health despite excess weight. When nothing could be further from the truth. I hear in clinic everyday "I know I could loss some weight, but my physical (Cholestrol, Blood Pressure, and Sugar) was great this year..." The fact is the ground work is being laid for how we respond to the world (metabolic gene expression), DNA/tissue damage, and disease states. We usually first become aware of the warning signs when Metabolic Syndrome sets in (things like high blood pressure, high cholestrol, high fasting blood sugar). Finally the metabolic syndrome erupts 5-10 year later into chronic diseases, and those with an established link to inflammation include heart disease, pulmonary disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer...to name a few.

Let's look further at one pathway in which obesity and the silent inflammatory response create a vicious cycle. Insulin is required to store and access energy for life. Unfortunately, the adipokines directly interfere with insulin's ability to work, blocking the lock and key system or the cascade of events beyond the lock and key. This is known as insulin resistance, a precursor to diabetes. Thus as you eat the insulin can't be used efficiently so you end up with extra insulin in the blood stream. Therefore, your calories aren't be used as energy, you store more fat, your appetite goes up even further, and the body hits panic mood. Ironically, in this state the more you eat the more you starve. We will explore this more in a subsequent post.

Therefore, the take home message is overeating is not the main cause of extra weight...it is a result of extra weight. We have to correct the metabolic and inflammatory environment to correct overeating. It is not as simple as "willpower". As Dr. Michael Kennedy puts it "try holding your breath for 5 minutes to see how much willpower you have". It is a physiologic protective mechanism that has to be corrected.

CALIECAT

Thanks will be looking foward to your next post. I am on the Mayp Clinic diet. Is that a good diet to be on . This is my frist week and I did lose 2 lbs.


Marie ( Calie )

DottieNewton

Thanks for the info--but can you tell me HOW to correct this??

DrHardacre

That's great. I'm glad to see you achieving success. The Mayo guidelines have a lot of positive things about them. First it is a lifestyle change based on education rather than diet. Their pyramid is much more acceptable than the government pyramid. I agree fruits and vegetables should be at the base. What is nice is the guidelines can be adaptive to new data and information. If it works stick with it. I started my group on myfitnesspal for some patients I'm working with around the country. So we are following a very specific program. I was starting the group to be able to interact with people all over and lay ground work for people to start at varied times. Obviously, I'm just starting the data stream. The basic information however can be applied to anyone interested (but didn't anticipate anyone following but my little group). And applied to their program such as the Mayo diet.

DrHardacre

Sorry for the drawn out story line, but as I mentioned to Caliecat I started this group originally as a support system for a group I was helping with their program...helping a friend out and fulfilling a personal passion and interest. I promise I will ultimately get to solutions not just problems. But like most problems, to fix them you must start with truly understanding the situation. The fortunate part is that the problem is fixable (and reversible). And once you start seeing the problem more clearly (metabolically), then there are numerous ways to achieve success and avoid pitfalls. When you understand the right questions to ask, then the answers will become easy to find, and you can tell me how to correct this. It follows the proverb: Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. I wish you a lifetime of wellness and healthy nutrition. So if you can bare with the process I will try to address versions of the "How".