Body by Science
THE BALANCE OF CATABOLISM AND ANABOLISM People routinely refer to health and fitness as if the two concepts were cojoined. T h e popular assumption is that as one's level of physical fitness rises, t h e level of h e a l t h rises along w i t h it. U n f o r t u n a t e l y , no direct scientific link between these two conditions exists. T h e h u m a n body, you see, is never static; it is a dynamic organism that carries on a p e r p e t u a l b a l a n c i n g act b e t w e e n b r e a k i n g d o w n (catabolism) and building up (anabolism). T h i s is how your blood-clotting system functions, for example. It is continually b r e a k i n g down and b u i l d i n g up clots, keeping a balance between your blood viscosity and coagulability to ensure a smooth flow and still stem any bleeding that should occur (but not so aggressively as to produce clogged arteries and infarcts). Your p l l balance, blood gases, h o r m o n e levels, electrolytes, fluid levels, and innumerable other complex processes are constantly shifting and c h a n g i n g as well within these catabolic and anabolic processes. Life, in essence, depends on this precise balance between a catabolic state and an anabolic state, and this balance is what defines the health of the organism. In brief, these states can be summarized as follows: Catabolic: Anything that results in the breakdown of the organism. Anabolic: Anything that results in growth and differentiation of the organism. Looking back at our species' hunter-gatherer days, we know that there were long periods when starvation was a real threat. D u r i n g those times, a catabolic state would have predominated. Despite the obvious negative effects, research into calorie restriction and life extension has revealed that during such catabolic states the vast majority of D N A repair occurs. T h e lesson here is that a catabolic state is a necessary component of health, rather than something to be avoided. Knowing this, we must factor the catabolic and anabolic processes into any definition of health that we create. Health implies a disease-free state, and so the definition must acknowledge