URBAN health
The Science of Weight Loss We all know that obesity is a huge problem in this country. Two out of three American adults and one out of three American children are overweight. One out By Elaine Davidson, MD of four Americans, ages 17-24 are unfit for military service due to obesity. Obesity increases the risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, sleep apnea, arthritis, fatty liver, and some cancers. These are problems that can lead to significant disability or death So how do we become fat? Obvious answers are excessive calorie intake and too little exercise. But fat storage is also directly related to the effects of two hormones called insulin, and glucagon. These two hormones both work at the level of the cell, controlling the fate of
triglycerides and fatty acids. Fat moves through the blood as triglycerides. A triglyceride is composed of 3 fatty acids attached to a glycerol molecule. When the triglyceride reaches the level of the cell, it can either be used for energy or stored as fat. Insulin promotes fat storage, whereas glucagon facilitates the conversion of fat to energy. People who are insulin resistant or prediabetic have a difficult time losing weight because they have a system that is dominated by insulin. Most of the time, when we diet, we reduce our overall calorie intake of everything - carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. When protein intake is restricted, our muscle mass is unprotected, and the body will burn muscle. Muscle is our energy burning furnace so we do not want to lose muscle. If we burn muscle, we end up with a lower muscle mass. In effect, we have now slowed our metabolism and we are worse off than in the beginning.
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So, how do we lose weight without losing muscle and more importantly, how do we promote a glucagon dominant system? The key is to maintain protein intake at the level needed to support our muscle mass while restricting carbohydrate intake. We have three “tanks” of energy - carbohydrates, muscle, and fat. If we protect our muscle with adequate protein intake and lower our carbohydrate consumption, keeping that tank relatively empty, then we are left with only the fat tank to burn. This promotes a glucagon dominant system. As director of Saltzer Ideal Weight Loss Center, I am seeing people successfully change their physiology and regain control of their weight using these principles. To learn more, please visit our website at www.saltzermed.com. Elaine Davidson, MD is Medical Director at the Saltzer Ideal Weight Loss Center.
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