Another culprit for obesity: Too much insulin
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Media Release | Dec. 4, 2012
UBC research finds another culprit for obesity: Too much insulin
A serendipitous discovery by a researcher at the University of British Columbia could overturn widely accepted notions about healthy eating habits.
The study, published online today in Cell Metabolism, examined the role of insulin, the hormone that allows the body to store blood sugar for later use as an energy source. Diabetes results from a lack of insulin.
James Johnson, an associate professor of cellular and physiological sciences, found that in animal models, too much insulin can be harmful. He gave a high-fat diet to two groups of mice: A control group of normal mice and another group bred to have half the normal amount of insulin. The control group, as expected, became fat. But the low-insulin mice were protected from weight gain because their fat cells burned more energy and stored less. The lean mice also had less inflammation and healthier livers.
Johnson concluded that extra insulin produced in the normal mice by the high-fat diet caused their obesity, which strongly suggests that mice – and, by extension, humans – may make more insulin than they need. The findings may mean that the key to maintaining a healthy weight is to continually return insulin levels to a healthy baseline by extending the gaps between meals and ignoring the widespread recommendations to consume small amounts throughout the day. In other words, cut out the snacks – and make sure not to overcompensate at mealtime.
“As crucial as insulin is for storing blood sugar, it can also be too much of a good thing,” Johnson says. “If we can maintain insulin levels at a happy medium, we could reverse the epidemic of obesity that is a risk factor for so many ailments – diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.”
BACKGROUND | Insulin and obesity
A surprising finding: Johnson, a member of UBC’s Life Sciences Institute, was not intending to study obesity. He was initially exploring whether beta cells in the pancreas, which produce insulin, were stimulated to multiply by their own insulin secretion. His discovery that low-insulin mice couldn’t gain weight was unexpected – as was the finding that most of those mice, despite dramatically lower insulin levels, still didn’t develop diabetes.
Obesity on the rise: Approximately one in four Canadian adults are obese, according to measured height and weight data from 2007-2009. Between 1981 and 2007-09, obesity rates roughly doubled among both males and females in most age groups.
No magic obesity pill, yet: While existing insulin-blocking drugs could prevent weight gain, they carry serious side effects that outweigh their benefit. Further research might lead to drugs that block excess insulin production or blunt its effect on certain targeted tissues.
Supporting partners: The research received financial support from the JDRF and the Canadian Diabetes Association.
http://aplaceofmind.ubc.ca/go.php?u=http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/2012/12/04/ubc-research-finds-another-culprit-for-obesity-too-much-insulin/
UBC research finds another culprit for obesity: Too much insulin
A serendipitous discovery by a researcher at the University of British Columbia could overturn widely accepted notions about healthy eating habits.
The study, published online today in Cell Metabolism, examined the role of insulin, the hormone that allows the body to store blood sugar for later use as an energy source. Diabetes results from a lack of insulin.
James Johnson, an associate professor of cellular and physiological sciences, found that in animal models, too much insulin can be harmful. He gave a high-fat diet to two groups of mice: A control group of normal mice and another group bred to have half the normal amount of insulin. The control group, as expected, became fat. But the low-insulin mice were protected from weight gain because their fat cells burned more energy and stored less. The lean mice also had less inflammation and healthier livers.
Johnson concluded that extra insulin produced in the normal mice by the high-fat diet caused their obesity, which strongly suggests that mice – and, by extension, humans – may make more insulin than they need. The findings may mean that the key to maintaining a healthy weight is to continually return insulin levels to a healthy baseline by extending the gaps between meals and ignoring the widespread recommendations to consume small amounts throughout the day. In other words, cut out the snacks – and make sure not to overcompensate at mealtime.
“As crucial as insulin is for storing blood sugar, it can also be too much of a good thing,” Johnson says. “If we can maintain insulin levels at a happy medium, we could reverse the epidemic of obesity that is a risk factor for so many ailments – diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.”
BACKGROUND | Insulin and obesity
A surprising finding: Johnson, a member of UBC’s Life Sciences Institute, was not intending to study obesity. He was initially exploring whether beta cells in the pancreas, which produce insulin, were stimulated to multiply by their own insulin secretion. His discovery that low-insulin mice couldn’t gain weight was unexpected – as was the finding that most of those mice, despite dramatically lower insulin levels, still didn’t develop diabetes.
Obesity on the rise: Approximately one in four Canadian adults are obese, according to measured height and weight data from 2007-2009. Between 1981 and 2007-09, obesity rates roughly doubled among both males and females in most age groups.
No magic obesity pill, yet: While existing insulin-blocking drugs could prevent weight gain, they carry serious side effects that outweigh their benefit. Further research might lead to drugs that block excess insulin production or blunt its effect on certain targeted tissues.
Supporting partners: The research received financial support from the JDRF and the Canadian Diabetes Association.
http://aplaceofmind.ubc.ca/go.php?u=http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/2012/12/04/ubc-research-finds-another-culprit-for-obesity-too-much-insulin/
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Bump for after coffee0
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Is fasting key to maintaining a healthy weight?
December 6, 2012. 8:26 am • Section: The Green Man
Don Gauvreau used to graze, snacking on small amounts of food throughout the day. Not any more.
“A lot of nutritionists and diet counsellors recommend that people eat small, frequent meals throughout the day, said Gauvreau. “And maybe common sense would tell you that keeping your portions small and constantly eating is going to elevate your metabolism and help you lose weight.
Popular wisdom for the past decade has been that eating frequently accelerates the metabolism and stabilizes blood sugar.
Are diet counsellors getting it wrong?
“The research is starting to show that every time you eat it’s going to increase your insulin, one of the most powerful hormones in the body,” said Gauvreau. “Eating also suppresses growth hormone, which stimulates fat burning.”
“Those small portions might help control your calorie intake but they suppress fat-burning systems,” he said.
Gauvreau now eats according to a schedule that includes two fasting periods each day, lasting about eight hours each. One between breakfast and dinner — no lunch at all — and then again while he sleeps.
He maintains a weight about four kilos lighter than in his grazing days, while eating the same healthy whole foods as before.
Recent research from the University of B.C. and the Salk Institute in California suggest weight control may be as closely related to when we eat as it is to how much we eat.
At least in mice.
UBC researchers, while studying the effect of insulin on pancreatic cells in mice, inadvertently discovered that normal mice fed a high-fat, high-calorie diet became obese, while mice bred to produce half the normal amount of insulin stayed lean.
The low-insulin mice were protected from obesity and the ailments that accompany it because they spent more time in a low-insulin condition that mimics fasting, according to James Johnson, an associate professor of cellular and physiological sciences at UBC.
Both groups ate the same food in the same amounts, according to the study published Tuesday in the journal Cell Metabolism.
The rich diet caused normal mice to produce too much insulin, which triggers weight gain, liver disease and inflammation, which is what you would expect. But not so for the low-insulin mice.
Johnson believes that extending the time between meals could help to return insulin to healthier levels for longer periods through the day, causing fat cells to burn energy rather than store it.
Eating between meals short-circuits that process, he said.
“We have constant access to very calorie-dense foods like soft drinks and 500-calorie lattes,” said Johnson. “We can take in with just a few sips what our ancestors would consume in a whole day.”
Another study published earlier this year, also in Cell Metabolism, lends credence to Johnson’s conclusions.
Scientists at the Salk Institute found that mice fed a high-fat, high-calorie diet for eight hours followed by a 16-hour fast maintained a normal weight.
A second group of mice that ate the same diet in the same amount, but spread over 24 hours, became obese and suffered from high cholesterol, high blood sugar and other obesity-related ailments. Without an extended break from feeding, the mice appeared unable to process all the fat, cholesterol and glucose they had consumed.
“I think [the Salk] study is exactly the same result that we got,” said Johnson. “I suspect the obesity they observed is due to the hypersecretion of insulin.”
The mice were allowed to eat small amounts day and night.
“That leads to insulin levels that are chronically high and promotes obesity,” he said.
The feed-and-fast mice had more opportunity to maintain normal insulin levels for long periods of time, which promotes energy-burning rather than storage.
“The timing of food intake is critical,” he said.
Again, for mice.
“You aren’t supposed to eat until you are hungry,” said Sheila Innis, a nutrition and metabolism researcher at UBC.
Innis believes the debate over fasting and grazing simply overshadows the more obvious problem, that people eat too much and don’t move around enough.
“Grazing” on a 600-calorie muffin and a 500-calorie latte isn’t going to help anyone lose weight, she said. “It simply won’t work, that’s more calories in a snack than you should have in a meal. Humans can’t do that.”
“Bottom line is you can’t overeat,” said Innis, who does not take dietary advice from rodents.
Basic scientific research, no matter how important or intriguing, does not give us permission to overeat.
“Worrying about insulin or meal timing is fine-tuning that is irrelevant when the car is headed in the wrong direction,” she said. “If you want to reduce your body weight, you’ve got to stop eating so much. Eat less, move more.”
http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2012/12/06/is-fasting-key-to-maintaining-a-healthy-weight/0 -
bump0
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“Worrying about insulin or meal timing is fine-tuning that is irrelevant when the car is headed in the wrong direction,” she said. “If you want to reduce your body weight, you’ve got to stop eating so much. Eat less, move more.”
^ This is a great quote.0 -
Carbohydrate metabolism in mice is very different from humans.0
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I already started taking fish oil due to last week's mouse obesity study. (I mean, it's good for you in any case). I don't think I'll be doing any intermittent fasting though... just ain't my thing.0
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BUMP0
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The culprit will always be people who are unable to put the freaking fork down after they have had enough calories. Simple as that.0
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NEW RELEASE FROM MY LIVING ROOM:
Eating more than you burn has been definitively shown to cause obesity when done for a prolonged period of time. That is all.0 -
The culprit will always be people who are unable to put the freaking fork down after they have had enough calories. Simple as that.
I love science and love all the fine details of certain hormones as they relate to weight, but I'd have to say, 95% of the time, this is indeed the best answer.
There's still the issue of people with hormonal problems and such, but those are significantly fewer than the people that simply eat too much.0 -
“Worrying about insulin or meal timing is fine-tuning that is irrelevant when the car is headed in the wrong direction,” she said. “If you want to reduce your body weight, you’ve got to stop eating so much. Eat less, move more.”
Interesting that after all the research about when to eat, how long between meals, etc, etc - her final quote was "Eat less, Move more."0 -
The culprit will always be people who are unable to put the freaking fork down after they have had enough calories. Simple as that.
I love science and love all the fine details of certain hormones as they relate to weight, but I'd have to say, 95% of the time, this is indeed the best answer.
There's still the issue of people with hormonal problems and such, but those are significantly fewer than the people that simply eat too much.
hormone problems are usually a result of abusing food for a number of years and ****ing your body up.
I.E type 2 diabetes. Type 1 is legitimate.0 -
hormone problems are usually a result of abusing food for a number of years and ****ing your body up.
I.E type 2 diabetes. Type 1 is legitimate.
Many things can cause hormonal problems. Thyroid issues, cancers, chronic illnesses, diabetes, chronic lack of sleep, etc.0 -
Even Taubes has moved away from blaming insulin, he now blames fructose as the main culprit lol0
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hormone problems are usually a result of abusing food for a number of years and ****ing your body up.
I.E type 2 diabetes. Type 1 is legitimate.
Many things can cause hormonal problems. Thyroid issues, cancers, chronic illnesses, diabetes, chronic lack of sleep, etc.
guess thats what happens when you remove natural selection from the equation right?0 -
Even Taubes has moved away from blaming insulin, he now blames fructose as the main culprit lol
FFS does he need more money? LOLOLOL
What a tool.0 -
“Worrying about insulin or meal timing is fine-tuning that is irrelevant when the car is headed in the wrong direction,” she said. “If you want to reduce your body weight, you’ve got to stop eating so much. Eat less, move more.”
^ This is a great quote.
srslly0 -
Even Taubes has moved away from blaming insulin, he now blames fructose as the main culprit lol
FFS does he need more money? LOLOLOL
What a tool.
Since his insulin hypothesis got easily debunked he now says fructose is the main culprit, he has a funny thought experiment at his blog or NYT and the comments are even funnier0 -
Even Taubes has moved away from blaming insulin, he now blames fructose as the main culprit lol
FFS does he need more money? LOLOLOL
What a tool.
Since his insulin hypothesis got easily debunked he now says fructose is the main culprit, he has a funny thought experiment at his blog or NYT and the comments are even funnier
Ridiculous. Cleverly disguised snake-oil salesman. I wish I had no moral compass so I could mislead people and make myself rich.
Oh well, back to magic tricks.0 -
Even Taubes has moved away from blaming insulin, he now blames fructose as the main culprit lol
FFS does he need more money? LOLOLOL
What a tool.
Since his insulin hypothesis got easily debunked he now says fructose is the main culprit, he has a funny thought experiment at his blog or NYT and the comments are even funnier
Does this mean people can eat wheat again? :laugh:0
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