Chronic metabolic diseases (including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular disease, cancer, dementia, polycystic ovarian disease, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease) are now rampant throughout both the developed and developing world.
These diseases are increasing in prevalence, severity, and as a percentage of total healthcare costs worldwide . Each of these chronic metabolic diseases are associated with dysfunctional mitochondrial energetics, resulting in the phenomenon of insulin resistance, which foments other altered cellular processes resulting in chronic disease. The key questions are: where does this insulin resistance come from; and why has it worsened over the last 50 years?
A standard misconception among health professionals is that chronic disease is the inevitable result of the aging process. This does not explain why children as young as the first decade now exhibit these same biochemical processes, and many children now manifest two diseases that were rarely seen in this age group: type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease. In fact, many neonates harbor increased adiposity, a result of altered foetal energy partitioning .
A second misconception is that the rise in prevalence and severity of obesity is self-determined due to an increased prevalence of the vices of gluttony and sloth. This belief is countered based on the physiology of three phenomena which document global involuntary perturbations in cellular biochemistry. First, laboratory animals in captivity are experiencing an increase in weight; inferring a global metabolic insult not restricted to humans . Second, body temperature has declined over the past 150 years in the United States commensurate with the rise in obesity; inferring a subcellular defect in mitochondrial beta-oxidation and heat generation. Third, all vertebrate life on this planet is exposed to environmental obesogens, many of which are found in the commercial food supply, with some directly affecting adipose tissue differentiation, and others impacting mitochondrial beta-oxidation, and driving weight gain exclusive of calories .
A third misconception is that obesity and chronic disease are the same phenomenon. Rather, it must be pointed out that 20% of individuals who are obese are metabolically healthy with normal lifespan and health span, and expected biochemical markers of aging, such as normal length telomeres . Conversely. 40% of individuals of normal weight manifest one or more chronic metabolic diseases. In the United States, up to 93% of the adult population manifest some aspect of metabolic dysfunction , while only 65% of individuals are either overweight or obese (10). People of normal weight also develop these diseases, which are increasing in prevalence in countries with low obesity rates as well. Therefore, there must be a more global, and likely more obscure, exposure that explains the high prevalence of insulin resistance and chronic disease in populations with low obesity rates.
A fourth misconception is that most clinicians mistakenly attribute the growing rise of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) to fat depots which are outwardly noticeable. This is also untrue, based on two endocrinopathies that highlight the dichotomy between obesity and chronic disease. First, the “Little Women of Loja” is a founder-effect cohort in Ecuador who are growth hormone-receptor deficient and who become markedly obese yet are protected from chronic metabolic disease such as diabetes and heart disease. Conversely, patients with lipodystrophy are devoid of subcutaneous fat, but instead develop liver and muscle (ectopic) fat and severe insulin resistance . It is not the fat you can see that causes disease; it is the fat you cannot see — and many people of normal weight harbor ectopic fat and insulin resistance.
Your food and drink is the problem of your Health- Part 1
The fifth and final misconception is that the cause of chronic disease is the quantity of the food consumed according to the metric of “calories.” Rather, it is the quality of the food consumed that contributes to insulin resistance. The Standard American Diet (SAD; also known as the Western Diet or the Processed Food Diet), replete with ultraprocessed foods, acts as endocrine disruptors that drive adiposity and alter mitochondrial ATP production. The recent advent, validation, and utilization of the NOVA classification of food processing demonstrates that Group 4, i.e., the ultraprocessed food category, portends the greatest risks of morbidity and mortality, as numerous culturally diverse studies illustrate that ultraprocessed food consumption is correlated with obesity , diabetes , heart disease ,cancer, dementia , and other mental health disorders . In short, obesity and chronic disease are not the same in the same way that different sources of calories are not the same .
Although many ingredients in ultraprocessed food are associated with metabolic derangement , perhaps the most studied and consistently vilified by both public health experts and commercial interests is sugar. It is also the most malleable, as the food industry develops numerous non-nutritive sweetener alternatives to replace sugar in its recipes. Indeed, many consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies have made initial efforts to reduce the sugar content of their portfolios to improve the quality of their ultraprocessed products. Also, a group of start-ups have formed a nascent Alliance to Combat Excessive Sugar (ACES) .
However, ultraprocessed foods are detrimental to human health across several parameters, including macronutrient and micronutrient composition, fiber, effects of food additives, toxins, heat exposure, and packaging. Recently, academic investigators have provided a framework for the reformulation of processed foods to improve health and sustainability . We believe that to make ultraprocessed food healthier, a more scientific approach that considers the various metabolic effects of food ingredients and processing is required. Instead of “Can we make healthy food tasty?,” we asked “Can we make tasty food healthy?”
Andreas Kornstaedt
San Francisco, United States
Its also not only what you eat- But its also what you can digest. For the past 16 year we treated the cause of your health problem and not only the symptoms- People all over the world spent billions on so called health products- Vitamin and weight loss programs...but they do not look at what is the real problem for being over weight and what is the social and emotional problem of the person. Medical assurance companies reward you for not being sick- so that they can put more money in their pockets. Wake up- its you life and your body.
Johann Pretorius - Professional Health Practitioner - Quanlim Life Pretoria
