Obesity Part Two

Last week we looked at some of the theories put forward to explain obesity. We looked at the ‘set point’ theory, which states that we have a set weight which the body tries to maintain by making us hungry if we fall below the “set point.” Also the effect of mood on weight; a low mood often leads to excessive eating of carbohydrates which in turn can create an insulin resistance which will lead to excessive weight gain.

    Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas, which controls blood sugar levels. When a person eats too much unrefined carbohydrates in their diets (fizzy drinks, white bread, cakes, biscuits, white pasta or sweets) the bodies cells become insensitive to insulin, then the bodies fat cells become bad at burning fat which results in an increase in the size of the fat cells leading to an increased weight and the set point gets higher - the body will always try to maintain the set-point weight. Thus our appetite also gets bigger as we get bigger!

    The key to overcoming the fat cells set point appears to be increasing the sensitivity of the fat cells to insulin. This sensitivity can be improved, and the set point lowered, by exercise, a good diet and several nutritional supplements.

    Keeping your blood sugar balanced is probably the most important factor in maintaining even energy levels and weight. An estimated three in every ten people have impaired ability to keep their blood sugar levels even.

    The best way to achieve optimal blood sugar balance is to control the Glycogenic load; go to website www.patrickholford.com  or buy Patrick Holford’s book the ‘‘GL Diet,’’ to get advice on the GL Diet.

    A successful program for excess weight and obesity is based on four cornerstones of good health. A positive mental attitude, a healthy lifestyle (especially important is regular exercise), a health promoting diet and supplementary measures (i.e. certain nutritional supplements)

    A new type of supplement produced from white kidney beans has been proven to reduce weight through its ability to block the effect of carbohydrates. During the digestive process, our bodies convert carbohydrates, found in starchy foods such as potatoes and pasta, into sugar. Your body does this by breaking-down carbohydrates with an enzyme called alpha amylase produced by the pancreas.

    These sugars are either burned off, through exercise, or stored by the body in fat cells. This supplement, called Phase 2, neutralizes this digestive enzyme Alpha Amylase before it can convert starch into glucose or fat. Essentially it allows the carbohydrates to pass through the digestive system unchanged. This will help lower the Glycogenic index of certain foods.

    In one study it was noted that weight dropped by 2kg over an eight week period by taking this supplement each day while eating the same amount of food as before the test.

    Another supplement worth looking at is chromium. Chromium plays a key role in increasing the body’s sensitivity to insulin. In one study, patients were given chromium picolinate at 200mcg, 400mcg or a placebo for ten weeks. The patients who took chromium picolinate lost an average of 2kg of fat. The results were most striking in elderly subjects and in men. The men who took chromium picolinate lost more than several times as much body fat as those who took the placebo. The 400mcg dose was found to be the most effective.

David Foley

MRCHM, MNIMH

Medical Herbalist

Obesity - Part One

Over half of the population is currently either overweight or obese - it has been estimated that 70% of men and 63% of women are either overweight or obese. Even more alarming is the number of obese children- obesity in two to four year old children has almost doubled, from 5% to 9% from 1989-1999. If current trends continue, conservative estimates are that at least one-third of adults, one-fifth of boys and one-third of girls will be obese by 2020.

     The simplest definition of obesity is an excessive amount of body fat. It must be distinguished from overweight, which refers to an excess of body weight relative to height. A muscular athlete may be overweight, yet have a very low body-fat percentage. With this in mind, it is obvious that using body weight alone as an index of obesity is not entirely accurate. Nevertheless, obesity is classically identified as weighing more than twenty percent over the average desirable weight for a given height.

    There are basically two areas of focus in trying to understand what causes obesity; psychological factors and physiological factors.

     Psychological factors include watching too much television. It has been demonstrated that watching too much television is linked to the onset of obesity, and there is a dose related effect (i.e. the more television one watches, the greater the degree of obesity) In addition to leading to childhood obesity, television viewing contributes to excess weight in adults. In one study of 4,771 adult women it was found that women watching more than three hours of television per day are more likely to become obese than women who watched less than one hour of television per day.

    A considerate body of scientific evidence demonstrates that brain serotonin levels have a major influence on eating behavior. When the brain levels of serotonin are low, then the brain senses that it is starving, so it stimulates the appetite control centers in a powerful way. This stimulation results in a preference for carbohydrates.

    Cravings for carbohydrates (as well as fat) due to low serotonin levels can be mild or quite severe. They may range in severity from a desire to nibble on a piece of bread to uncontrollable binging.

    The set point theory: The set point is the weight that a body tries to maintain by regulating the amount of food and calories consumed. Research with animals and humans has indicated that each person has a programmed ‘set point’ weight. The body’s individual fat cells control this set point.

    When these fat cells become smaller, they send a powerful message to the brain to eat. Since the overweight or obese individual often has both more and larger fat cells, the result can be an overpowering urge to eat.

    The existence of this set point may also explain why most diets don’t work. While the overweight or obese individual can fight off the impulse to eat for a time, eventually the signal becomes too strong to ignore. This can lead to yo-yo dieting and loss of confidence in the person’s ability to lose weight.

    This subject of obesity and excess weight is very important for one’s health and well-being, since excess weight puts extra strain on the body’s vital organs, with increased mortality resulting. Next time we will again look at this subject and what we can do to regain our optimum weight.

David Foley

MRCHM, MNIMH

Medical Herbalist