Weight gain is not related to the amount of food?!!

Ryan Sheikh Mohammed2021-09-18Last update: 2021-09-18

Weight gain is not related to the amount of food?!!

Weight gain is not related to the amount of food?!!

Nowadays, a team of American scientists argue, in a new study that may satisfy a large segment of people, that the root causes of the obesity epidemic are more related to the quality of what we eat rather than the amount of what is eaten.

Statistics from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that obesity affects more than 40% of American adults, putting them at risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer, according to SciTechDaily.

The USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020-2025 also said that losing weight requires adults to reduce the number of calories they get from foods and drinks and increase physical activity.

The antique “energy balance” approach

This approach to weight management is also based on the century-old energy balance model, which states that weight gain results from consuming less energy than what is eaten.

In today’s world, while a person is surrounded by very tasty, heavily marketed and cheap processed foods, it is easy for him to eat more calories than he needs, and this is an imbalance that is exacerbated by the sedentary lifestyles of today.

There is no point after decades of awareness

From this point of view, overeating, along with insufficient physical activity, is leading to an obesity epidemic.

On the other hand, despite the dissemination of health awareness messages over decades to urge people to eat less food and exercise more, the rates of obesity and obesity-related diseases have risen steadily.

The study researchers point to fundamental flaws in the energy balance model, arguing that the alternative model, the carbohydrate and insulin model, better explains obesity and weight gain, and points the way to more effective, long-term weight management strategies.

Teenage growth spurt

According to the study's lead author Dr. David Ludwig, an endocrinologist at Boston Children's Hospital and a professor at Harvard Medical School, the energy balance model is not helpful in understanding the biological causes of weight gain, since during a growth spurt, for example, teens may eat more 1000 calories per day. But there is no certainty whether overeating causes a growth spurt or whether a growth spurt makes a teenager feel hungry and overeat.

In contrast, the carbohydrate and insulin model makes a bold take on the idea that overeating is not the main cause of obesity.

The carbohydrate-insulin model places much of the blame for the current obesity epidemic on modern dietary patterns characterized by excessive consumption of foods with a high glycemic load, among them in particular, rapidly digesting processed carbohydrates, which cause hormonal responses that radically alter the process. The human body's metabolism and lead to fat storage, weight gain and obesity.

The secret of feeling hungry

The study also explained that when you eat highly processed carbohydrates, the body increases insulin secretion and suppresses the secretion of glucagon, a peptide hormone produced by alpha cells in the pancreas.

Glucagon raises the concentration of glucose and fatty acids in the bloodstream, and its effect is opposite to that of insulin, which lowers extracellular glucose.

It then signals the fat cells to store more calories, leaving fewer calories available to fuel muscle and other metabolically active tissues. The brain then realizes that the body is not getting enough energy, which in turn leads to a feeling of hunger.

The metabolism also slows down in an attempt by the body to conserve fuel. Thus, the person continues to feel hungry and eats more, which leads to the continued gaining of excess fat.

More comprehensive formula

While the carbohydrate-insulin model is not new, with its origins going back to the early twentieth century, the perspective of the latest study could be the most comprehensive version of this model to date, which was co-written by a team of 17 internationally recognized scientists and clinical researchers as experts in field of public health. Collectively, the scientists summarized the growing body of evidence supporting the carbohydrate-insulin model. They identified a series of testable hypotheses that characterize the two models to guide future research.

Less hunger and suffering

In addition, the scientists suggested that the carbohydrate-insulin model represented another pathway that focused more on the quality and content of nutrients.

According to Dr. Ludwig, reducing consumption of fast-digesting carbohydrates that flooded the food supply during the era of the low-fat diet reduced the primary drive to store fat in the body. Thus, it is possible to lose excess weight with less feeling of hunger and suffering.

Other topics:

How do you deal with your lover after returning from a breakup?

http://عادات وتقاليد شعوب العالم في الزواج

Weight gain is not related to the amount of food?!!