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Obesity: Nature vs. Nurture?
Photo Credit: Yukari
The obesity crisis in America is a good indication that most people are living at the high end of their genetic weight range, and therefore nutrition and exercise are the answer. Regardless of what your genetic weight range is, healthy eating and exercise benefit your entire health and longevity. Obese people who lose just 5-10% of their initial weight significantly decrease their risk of associated diseases.
The extensive research on the Pima Indians provides a great example of the interplay between genetics and lifestyle factors. Pima Indians are genetically pre-disposed to type 2 diabetes, a disease that is produced largely by the same factors that cause obesity and obesity itself. The Pima Indians who live in the U.S. have the highest rate of type 2 diabetes of any population in the world (77% of people 55 and older) and correspondingly high obesity rates. Pima Indians living in Mexico have much lower rates of type 2 diabetes (9% of people 55 and older) and obesity. These two groups are genetically similar, but their diets and levels of physical activity are very different. As a result, the obesity rate among the American Pima men is 10 times that of the Mexican Pima men! In fact, the Mexican Pima Indian's rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes parallel that of other Mexicans living similar lifestyles even though they have a genetic susceptibility to type 2 diabetes. Why? Because Mexican Pima Indians eat comparable amounts of calories and fiber as other Mexicans living similar lifestyles and have comparable levels of physical activity. American Pimas have diets and activity levels similar to other Americans.
If you are overweight, it is important to continue to try to lose weight. Being overweight increases your risk of developing diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and arthritis, just to name a few. But beware fad diets that claim "Lose 10 lbs in a week!" The safe rate of weight loss is 1-2 pounds per week. At this rate, about 70% of each pound you lose is fat. If you are losing weight faster than this, you are burning less fat and more muscle. To lose one pound per week, you need to eat 500 fewer calories per day (or burn it with additional exercise). Examples of five hundred calories of food are a large serving of fast food French fries, or two small chocolate doughnuts.
Don't give up. Weight loss is hard, and most people who successfully lose a significant amount of weight and keep if off for a long time were not successful the first time. They tried many times before they found a healthy diet and lifestyle that enabled them to lose the weight and keep it off.
Raven Bonnar-Pizzorno, MS (Nutr)
- Foster G, Nonas C, eds. Managing Obesity: A Clinical Guide. Chicago: American Dietetics Association, 2004.
- Laquatra I. Nutrition for Weight Management. In: Mahan L, Escott-Stump S, eds. Krause's Food, Nutrition, and Diet Therapy. 11th edn. Philadelphia: Saunders, 2004.
- The National Weight Control Registry Brown Medical School/The Miriam Hospital Weight Control & Diabetes Research Center 196 Richmond Street, Providence, RI 02903
- Schulz LO, Bennett PH, Ravussin E, et al. Effects of traditional and western environments on prevalence of type 2 diabetes in Pima Indians in Mexico and the U.S. Diabetes Care. 2006 Aug;29(8):1866-71.
Related Topics: Technorati Tags: obesity, genetics, exercise, diet, health and wellness
5 Comments:
I am in total agreement with this very good article. The example of the Pima Indians that adopt the typical American diet is the same with anyone that does. It leads to sickness, obesity, and disease. There is much work to be done to get this information into the mainstream, and into our school systems. This obesity crises and all the bad things that go along with it is getting out of hand.
I have been reading about how bad corn syrup is for us.Why is it in almost all food. I think this is the thing that is causing diabetes and making people fat
Yes, high fructose corn syrup consumption is a major contributor to not just obestity but diabetes, heart disease, etc. It entered our diet about 50 years ago and the average person now consumes about 50 pounds a year.
further discussion on corn syrup:
it's cheaper than cane sugar or beet sugar, it's sweeter, and on the food science end of things it helps with texture. The big problem: biochemistry. The combination of glucose and fructose (which is actually the case with cane/beet sugars) slows the TCA cycle (by way of insulin action). Glucose can be stored as glycogen, but fructose is either burned for energy, or stored as fat. Insulin blocks different points in the TCA cycle, thus diverting fructose to fat metabolism. If someone is on the edge of obesity, they really need to know what they are eating. Heck, even spaghetti sauces have high fructose corn syrup sometimes. Just because something doesn't have fat according to the label, doesn't mean you won't make fat from what's in it.
We totally agree with this well informed article..
the facts are the ish.
mwhahahah
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