This is the third in a series of articles about obesity. In this and upcoming articles, Dr. Gardner discusses how obesity happens; why losing weight is seemingly easy for some and nearly impossible for others; common misunderstandings about weight loss and gain; and some exclusive information from Dr. Gardner that proposes a unique theory and answers many of your questions.
When I was growing up, my siblings and I were secretly (and sometimes openly) amused when my grandmother, a “health nut,” would recite to us, “The whiter the bread, the sooner you’re dead!” Small but feisty, she readily made known her nutritional dogma to anyone and everyone who would listen (and a few who wouldn’t).
We laughed, because this was the era of the soft white bread that “helped build strong bodies 12 ways.” This was when canned soups were touted as “mmm, mmm, good,” replacing the pot of homemade vegetable soup full of fresh garden goodies that simmered on the stove. Cake mixes took the place of measuring cups, spoons, and basic ingredients like whole wheat flour and honey. Fresh garden vegetables were replaced with more convenient cans on the shelf. Eggs were gathered from concentration camps, where chickens were confined in tight quarters and their permeable-shelled eggs were washed in a chlorine bath and covered with waxes and other elements to preserve their shelf life. And macaroni and cheese became the product of a box’s contents, a mysterious orange powder, store-bought margarine and milk, and tap water (which also was filled with mysterious chemicals to make it “safe” to drink).
But now, nearly 50 years later, Grandma’s prophecies about the deterioration of health are evidenced all around us. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see where the dots connect, although astonishingly, most of those who seem to be authorities in the field of food, nutrition, and safety have not as yet acknowledged what is happening, and why.
A Foreign Invasion
Let’s talk about what happens inside our bodies when we bring foreign materials inside that they do not recognize as food. If, for example, we take in something that has spoiled, our bodies immediately mount a resistance. Protective measures within the body relegate their efforts to getting rid of the offender, either through vomiting or diarrhea. Sometimes when an offending element has been ingested, the body’s immediate response is to recognize that element as an allergen, so the body mounts another type of resistance in the form of swelling and inflammation. Chronic ingestion of allergy-causing materials causes chronic swelling, bloating, and edema.
Look around you, and see the masses of people who are in a constant state of pain, trying to move, but too swollen, too inflamed, too obese to get around in comfort. Guiltily, they try to starve their bodies into a state of submission, and they feel somehow irresponsible and out of control. Their efforts to cut calories often result in increased size, pain and misery—their bodies continue to swell with the introduction of more and more non-nutritious invaders that the body cannot and does not recognize as food.
Inflammation triggers a local swelling. When we cut ourselves, bruise ourselves, or get an infection, the body releases local inflammatory substances to attract cells to the area to take care of the problem. The local blood vessels ‘leak’, to permit the cells to infiltrate the area, but this leakage also permit swelling to take place. The swelling contributes to the impression of fat, which may be seen in the fingers, face and other areas where fat is not the only tissue accumulating.
Recognizing the Cause of Obesity
Obesity is a state of chronic low-level inflammation.
In my most recent article, I shared with you some of the latest research over the last 10 years. It is instructive to repeat it, so I can help tie all of these observations together. To quote Rinke Stienstra, et. al., of the Nutrition, Metabolism and Genomics Group and Nutrigenomics Consortium in the Netherlands: “Obesity is often accompanied by excess fat storage in tissues other than adipose tissue, including liver and skeletal muscle, which may stimulate inflammation… Some of these secreted proteins, including several proinflammatory mediators, may be produced by macrophages resident in the adipose tissue. The changes in inflammatory status of adipose tissue and liver with obesity feed a growing recognition that obesity represents a state of chronic low-level inflammation.” 1
This observation is so cool! It explains a lot.
Fat cells function as an endocrine organ, secreting hormones. This is reported by Toni R, et.al. in 2004, “Visceral fat, in fact, may act as an endocrine organ, synthesizing and releasing inflammatory cytokines, whose circulating levels depend on the individual’s nutritional state, and the extent and anatomical location of fat stores.
” 2
Some of these hormones are inflammatory. Biopsy of fat tissue reveals the accumulation of macrophages in the tissue, which are known to secrete inflammatory substances. These inflammatory substances affect the cell membrane, contributing to insulin resistance. Sugar and insulin are both inflammatory, which adds further to the inflammatory concoctions bombarding our bodies’ defense systems.
As insulin levels rise, they block the breakdown of fat, contributing to its accumulation. As sugar levels rise, more glucose is converted into triglycerides, also contributing to fat accumulation. A rise in glucose levels and insulin levels in the blood is called insulin resistance. Inflammation from obesity contributes to this process.
Haiyan Xu, et. al., report in their December 2003 article, “Increasing evidence from human population studies and animal research has established correlative as well as causative links between chronic inflammation and insulin resistance. We propose that obesity-related insulin resistance is, at least in part, a chronic inflammatory disease initiated in adipose tissue.” 3
Which Came First?
All of the above concepts have been known for years. But what came first, the inflammation or the fat? Here is where recent research has clarified the issue.
A recent study was done in children to see if inflammation was present early in the course of obesity. Inflammatory cells were found at the very beginning stages of fat accumulation. Doctors Andrea Sbarbti, MD, PhD, et. al. report the following from their abstract, “Our study proved that an ‘inflammatory’ process exists in the adipose tissue of obese children, confirming previous findings in animals and obese adults and demonstrating that it is an early alteration in humans.”4
Even before the insulin levels were high, inflammation was already rising. Inflammation is both the cause and the result of obesity.
Initially, because of hormonal differences, fat accumulates around the waist in men and the hips and thighs in women. Soon, the internal organs start to be surrounded by fat tissue. The liver starts to accumulate fat and inflammatory tissue. Interestingly, when inflammation becomes under control in the liver, the fat deposition stops.
Peace, Joy and Celebration
There are other elements to take into account with how to get weight under control. I’ll be sharing those with you in future articles. But first and foremost, we need to reduce inflammation in our bodies. Now is the time to stop the insane consumption of non-food. Decrease and eliminate canned and boxed foods from your shelves. Buy food from farmers’ markets or grow your own, where you can get fresh vegetables.
Bring back the joy, peace, and celebration that come with good, healthy cooking and eating. I’ll have more on that in upcoming articles, as well. Remember my grandmother’s adage, “The whiter the bread, the sooner you’re dead?” Now we need to add white sugar, white rice and white, refined salt, trans fats, MSG, additives, colorings, margarine, canned “food,” boxed “food,” and mass-produced or processed non-food to the list.
Your Body as Your Teacher
As you start to eliminate the non-foods which are damaging your body, your body will start to teach you what benefits it and what does not. You will be able to notice how you feel after different things that you consume, and you and your body will begin to communicate again.
Don’t expect this to happen quickly if you have been part of the non-food consumers for years. It may take years to get back to normal. But thankfully, your body is forgiving, and proper nutrients in our body will go a long way toward repair—organic and free range foods are best. And don’t forget supplements.
Thanks to all of you who are sharing your thoughts, ideas, frustrations, and questions in my survey. If you haven’t done so already, please do so by clicking on this link: survey
I’ll keep you updated on things at my website, www.stangardnermd.com.
Until then,
To your dynamic health and energy!
Dr. Stan
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1 PPARs, Obesity, and Inflammation, Rinke Stienstra, Caroline Duval, Michael Muller, and Sander Kersten, Published online 2006 December 28. doi: 10.1155/2007/95974.
2 New paradigms in neuroendocrinology: relationships between obesity, systemic inflammation and the Neuroendocrine system. Toni R, Malaguti A, Castorina S, Roti D, Lechan RM; J Endocrinol Invest 2004 Feb(27:2): 182-6.
3 Chronic inflammation in fat plays a crucial role in the development of obesity-related insulin resistance, Haiyan Xu, Glenn T. Barnes, et al, J Clin Invest 112(12): 1821-1830 (2003).
4 Obesity and Inflammation: Evidence for an Elementary Lesion, Andrea Sbarbati, MD, PhD, Francesco Osculati, MD, et.
al., Pediatrics Vol 117 No. 1 January 2006, pp. 220-223.
