Tag Archive for: weight gain

Another Theory of Obesity

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It’s been a while since someone has proposed a new theory of obesity. I’m still a believer in “a calorie is a calorie” but it’s always good to find out what may be driving us to overeat.

The latest addition is the Fructose Survival Hypothesis for Obesity. The diagram above was taken from an article published in the journal Obesity. The authors claim that their new theory explains and is consistent with the other theories that include the energy-balance hypothesis, the carbohydrate-insulin model, the protein-leverage hypothesis, and the seed-oil hypothesis. They’re depicted in the large red circles and also include genetics and the microbiome. It all seems complicated, to say the least.

Fructose Survival Theory Simplified

Let’s just focus on the fructose in the blue box and follow those arrows. The arrow that goes up simply suggests that people who eat more fructose-containing food and drinks increase their food intake and gain weight. Simple.

The arrow that angles down to mitochondrial stress leads to a whole host of metabolic changes, all of which result in the decrease or blockage of production of ATP and the increase in fat storage. The result is obesity, altered blood lipids, and a fatty liver.

This pathway is apparently related to getting ready for hibernation, but one gene with the ability to store fat to protect against starvation kicks in and we just gain weight. Of course, it’s more complicated with multiple enzymes involved, but in reality it just goes back to one thing: eating and drinking too much of, in this case, refined carbohydrates.

Questions about the Fructose Theory

We know how this potential theory of obesity involving fructose metabolism seems to work. There are at least three questions:

1. Does the source of fructose matter? In other words, is high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) more likely to impact weight more than the fructose in grapes or watermelon? The research in animals and a human trial involved eating and drinking the calories in prepared mixtures, but what about real food?

2. They suggest a pathway where glucose can be made into fructose by being exposed to salt, umami, and dehydration. In the animal trial, I couldn’t find total body water ascertained nor what type of sodium might be more hazardous: table salt? MSG? Pink salt?

3. Would the theory apply to normal weight people eating just enough to maintain their weight as it is, regardless of diet composition? Or would people gain weight even while not overeating, regardless of diet? They tested for outcomes in animals and people who were overweight to begin with, but there’s no evidence that people couldn’t lose weight if they cut calories even while eating a high-fructose diet.

Chemical drivers of food behavior such as those proposed must be studied, if for no other reason than to see if there are negative effects for people who don’t follow the mainstream dietary recommendations and yet maintain a healthy body weight. All this research has led to the research group being awarded a patent on a pharmaceutical that would interfere with a specific enzyme called fructokinase. We’re interfering with what they claim to be a natural process against starvation. Is that safe?

The Bottom Line

The researchers and drug developers have spent over a decade researching the fructose theory of obesity and spent millions of research dollars. They have a patented pharmaceutical that may address the issue. But the one question that they must answer, besides discovering any harms in clinical trials, is this: would someone who ate a diet high in fructose and sodium be able maintain a normal body weight? Is a calorie a calorie? Until then, I’m not convinced.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

References:
1. Obesity. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1002/oby.23920
2. Phil.Trans. R. Soc. B 378:20220230. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2022.0230

How to Gain Weight Without Magic Pills

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How many of you took the time to look up the phytonutrient I gave you in Tuesday’s Memo? If you did, you know that it was one of the many phytonutrients in one of my favorite herbs: echinacea. The company that manufactures the weight gain pill called CB-1 claimed one of the ingredients was tested in a clinical trials and helped increase calorie intake for up to two hours.

I searched PubMed for every ingredient on the label, and the only studies I could find showed that some phytonutrients help add finishing weight to cows. There were no human trials related to body weight. Most of the research, especially on the phytonutrients, was related to improving the immune function in humans and animals.

My guess is that the 24-page booklet accompanying the supplement explains how to eat to gain weight: it comes with the purchase of a one-month supply of the product for just $70 plus shipping. So that’s it: no real research and booklet on how to eat. Such a deal!

Gaining Weight

There are some people who really want to gain weight, such as teen athletes and endurance athletes or people who’ve lost too much weight due to illness. Then there are those rare people who’ve always been thinner than they want to be. You might think my response would be to eat more and move less, but no. That course of action may help you get fatter, but it probably won’t be healthy. And the extra pounds may not go where you’d like them to go; how many of us wish for a bigger belly?

Here is the simplest approach. I’ll preface this by saying that anyone who has helped people gain weight probably has a different view, but after 35 years as an exercise physiologist, here’s my approach.

  • Increase protein intake by 20 to 40 grams per day. You can use food such as cooked chicken breast with about 10 grams protein per ounce or canned tuna in water at seven grams per ounce. That’s what we did before there were all the protein powders available today. You can measure the powders precisely and mix them in a smoothie or with milk for even more protein.
  • Use 10 to 30 grams of branch-chain amino acids (BCAA) and/or essential amino acids (EAA) every day, preferably after exercise. EAAs contain the BCAAs as well, so it’s your preference; both have shown an increase in muscle mass and strength when used in combination with a weight training program.
  • Incorporate weight training into your exercise program. There are a hundred different training regimens using everything from exercise tubes to weight training machines. The approach you use depends on your age and fitness level, but if you want to gain weight, you want to increase muscle as well as adding some fat.

That’s it. You already know how to get results based on the recent Memos: be consistent, week in, week out.

The Bottom Line

The focus in health always seems to be on losing weight and with 70% of the population overweight, there’s a reason for that. But if you need to add some weight, the simplest solution is often the correct one. Reasonably increase protein intake together with some of the right amino acids and start a weight training program. No need for magic pills because it’s the effort that gets results.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

The Weight-Gain Pill

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I’m a self-proclaimed channel flipper—I always want to see what else is on when I have the remote. That’s why I did a double take when I saw the beginning of a commercial for weight gain. It wasn’t the typical approach, such as the product contains some formulation of branched chain amino acid, creatine, and other herbs that are supposedly associated with gaining muscle faster. Not this time.

The featured testimonial was a woman who was always “skinny” her entire life. The “before” picture was a very thin woman. Then she begins using this product with an herbal blend and some vitamins in it. She managed to gain 53 pounds! But it went with the product’s Facebook tag line: Curves are in—and we can help!

What was in this magnificent supplement? Vitamin D and zinc and the herbal blend. I’ll give you just one ingredient to give you a clue: dodeca-2E,4E,8Z,10Z-tetraenoic acid isobutylamide. I’ll tell you what I found in the research as well as describe a legitimate weight-gain program for those who might need it in Saturday’s Memo.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Here We Go: The Holiday Stretch

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The final two months of 2015 are upon us. Winter is approaching. Some lucky people will be packing up to flee south. Depending on where you live, you may have leaves to rake, bulbs to plant, trees to prune, and winterizing tasks all over the house.

It’s also the busiest eating season of the year. As soon as you recover from your Halloween candy coma, here comes Thanksgiving, holiday parties, eggnog, pumpkin pie, Christmas cookies, Christmas dinner, New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, and month after month of sports playoff parties. No wonder the holiday seven has . . .

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