Kimchi Lowering Obesity Risk

A January 2024 study reported in BMJ Open compared with those who ate less than 1 daily serving of total kimchi, participants who ate 5 or more servings weighed more, had a larger waist size, and were more likely to be obese. They were also more likely to not be highly educated, have a low income, and to drink alcohol.

But after accounting for potentially influential factors, eating up to 3 daily servings of total kimchi was associated with an 11% lower prevalence of obesity compared with less than 1 daily serving.

“Since all results observed a ‘J-shaped’ association, excessive consumption suggests the potential for an increase in obesity prevalence. And as kimchi is one of the major sources of sodium intake, a moderate amount should be recommended for the health benefits of its other components.”

Obesity - Root Dietary Cause - Fructose

An October 2023 study by the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus found that, the primary problem in obesity is fructose, which is present in table sugar and high fructose corn syrup.

• “Essentially, these theories [the “fructose survival hypothesis”], which put a litany of metabolic and dietary drivers at the center of the obesity epidemic, are all pieces of a puzzle unified by one last piece: fructose,”

• “Fructose is what triggers our metabolism to go into low power mode and lose our control of appetite, but fatty foods become the major source of calories that drive weight gain.”

• “This theory views obesity as a low-energy state,”

• “Identifying fructose as the conduit that redirects active energy replacement to fat storage shows that fructose is what drives energy imbalance, which unites theories.”

muscle mass, heart disease, diabetes

An October 2023 report presented to the Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) said,

• “Our results suggest that the increased risk of death in individuals with diabetes who have low muscle mass isn’t mediated or influenced by frailty, poor blood sugar control or microvascular complications but due to the loss of muscle itself.  More research is needed to determine just how sarcopenia increases the risk of death.”

• “For most people with type 2 diabetes and overweight or obesity, guidelines recommend nutrition, physical activity and behavioural therapies to achieve and maintain weight loss.”

• “However, there are limitations to assessing treatment goals based on weight loss alone because body weight cannot distinguish between fat and muscle mass and so does not reveal if someone is sarcopenic.”

• “It is important to consider body composition when treating obesity and managing weight in people with diabetes.”

Protein restriction, obesity and diabetes

A September 2022 study by Harvard Medical School said, 

• “The study showed that cutting protein intake to 0.8 g per kg of body weight was sufficient to achieve almost the same clinical results as restricting calories, but without the need to reduce calorie intake. The results suggest that protein restriction may be one of the key factors leading to the known benefits of dietary restriction. Protein restriction dieting may therefore be a more attractive nutritional strategy and easier to follow for people with metabolic syndrome,” 

• “After 27 days of monitoring, both groups had similar results in terms of lower blood sugar, weight loss, controlled blood pressure, and lower levels of triglycerides and cholesterol. Both diets improved insulin sensitivity after treatment. Body fat decreased, as did waist and hip circumference, but without loss of muscle mass,” 

• “Here, however, we succeeded in conducting a fully controlled randomized clinical trial lasting 27 days, with a personalized menu designed to meet each patient’s needs,” 

• “We demonstrated that protein restriction reduces body fat while maintaining muscle mass. That’s important since the weight loss resulting from restrictive diets is often associated with loss of muscle mass,” 

• “We only have hypotheses so far. One is that molecular pathways are activated to interpret the reduction in essential amino acids as being a signal to reduce food intake while leading to the production of hormones that typically increase when we’re fasting,”

• “Studies in animal models have shown the involvement of such pathways in the effects of both protein and calorie restriction, both of which lead to fat loss.”

• “Nevertheless, it’s tempting to extrapolate the results. We know research has shown vegan diets to be positive for cases of metabolic syndrome. It’s also been found that the excessive protein intake common in the standard Western diet can be a problem. Every case should be analyzed on its own merits. We shouldn’t forget protein deficiency can lead to severe health problems, as has been well-described in pregnant women, for example,”

Weight-loss, obesity and sitting

A May 2021 study by California Polytechnic State University, in San Luis Obispo said it’s findings,

• "hopefully will prompt future weight maintenance intervention research testing the effects of and optimal approaches for reducing sedentary behavior, including non-work-related computer and video game usage. Future research should include objective measures of sedentary behavior and activity," 

• "These findings are important for understanding behaviors that may enhance weight loss maintenance, and one of those may be to reduce sitting time and other modes of sedentary behavior. However, this study also showed that physical activity was associated with improved weight-loss maintenance. Thus, this study does not imply that simply standing more rather than sitting will contribute to weight-loss maintenance, but may suggest that less sitting that results in more movement is what is key to weight loss maintenance. Hence, sit less and move more,"

Obesity and Asthma

A November 2022 study by Nottingham Trent University said,

• “We have found a significant link between gut permeability, being overweight and poor asthma control, particularly in people with obesity. This suggests that dietary interventions to improve gut barrier function may be an effective, alternative treatment target for asthma patients who are overweight or have obesity.”

• “Our initial findings show that increased gut permeability is likely to be a factor in worsening asthma symptoms in patients with obesity, so it will be interesting to look at whether dietary interventions can improve symptoms for these patients.”

processed foods and obesity

A November 2022 study by the University of Sydney said,

• “As people consume more junk foods or highly processed and refined foods, they dilute their dietary protein and increase their risk of being overweight and obese, which we know increases the risk of chronic disease,” 

• “It’s increasingly clear that our bodies eat to satisfy a protein target,” 

• “Humans, like many other species, have a stronger appetite for protein than for the main energy-providing nutrients of fats and carbohydrates. That means that if the protein in our diet is diluted with fats and carbohydrates, we will eat more energy to get the protein that our bodies crave.”

• “The problem with randomised controlled trials is that it treats diet as a disease, when it’s not,” 

• “Laboratory studies may not be indicative of what people are actually eating and doing at a population level. So this study is important as it builds on work, showing that people do seek out protein. And it confirms that, at a population level, as the proportion of energy from protein increases in the diet, people eat less fats and carbohydrates.”

• “The results support an integrated ecological and mechanistic explanation for obesity, in which low-protein, highly processed foods lead to higher energy intake in response to a nutrient imbalance driven by a dominant appetite for protein,” 

• “It supports a central role for protein in the obesity epidemic, with significant implications for global health.”

• “The protein mechanism in appetite is a revolutionary insight,” 

• “Obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease - they’re all driven by diet, and we have to use what we’re learning to bring them under control.”

Dieting plus Higher protein

In a June 2022 study by the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS) said,

• “It’s somewhat remarkable that a self-selected, slightly higher protein intake during dieting is accompanied by higher intake of green vegetables, and reduced intake of refined grains and added sugar …But that’s precisely what we found.”

• “The impact of self-selected dietary protein on diet quality has not been examined before, to our knowledge, like this,” 

• “Exploring the connection between protein intake and diet quality is important because diet quality is often suboptimal in the U.S., and higher-protein weight loss diets are popular.”

The feeding window and obesity

A May 2021 study by the University of Surrey said,

"Time-restricted feeding has the potential to become an extremely effective tool in the fight against the obesity epidemic facing many countries. However, the study clearly shows that the ability of people to restrict their daily feeding window is dependent on their individual lifestyles.”

The study found that most people could reduce their feeding window by 3 hours.

Diabetes type 2: New Treatment pathway

A June 2021 study from University of Arizona College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and BIO5 Institute, and  Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Pennsylvania and Northwestern University,

• "All current therapeutics for Type 2 diabetes primarily aim to decrease blood glucose. So, they are treating a symptom, much like treating the flu by decreasing the fever,”

• "Obesity is known to be a cause of Type 2 diabetes and, for a long time, we have known that the amount of fat in the liver increases with obesity,”

• "As fat increases in the liver, the incidence of diabetes increases."

• "We found that fat in the liver increased the release of the inhibitory neurotransmitter Gamma-aminobutyric acid, or GABA," 

• "We then identified the pathway by which GABA synthesis was occurring and the key enzyme that is responsible for liver GABA production - GABA transaminase."

• "When the liver produces GABA, it decreases activity of those nerves that run from the liver to the brain. Thus, fatty liver, by producing GABA, is decreasing firing activity to the brain," 

• "That decrease in firing is sensed by the central nervous system, which changes outgoing signals that affect glucose homeostasis."

• "Inhibition of excess liver GABA production restored insulin sensitivity within days," 

• "Longer term inhibition of GABA-transaminase resulted in decreased food intake and weight loss."

gut inflammation and infection

A June 2021 study at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Cleveland Clinic said,

• "Inflammatory bowel disease has historically been a problem primarily in Western countries such as the U.S., but it's becoming more common globally as more and more people adopt Western lifestyles," 

• "Our research showed that long-term consumption of a Western-style diet high in fat and sugar impairs the function of immune cells in the gut in ways that could promote inflammatory bowel disease or increase the risk of intestinal infections."

• "Obesity wasn't the problem per se,”

• "Eating too much of a healthy diet didn't affect the Paneth cells. It was the high-fat, high-sugar diet that was the problem."

• "This was a short-term experiment, just eight weeks,”

• "In people, obesity doesn't occur overnight or even in eight weeks. People have a suboptimal lifestyle for 20, 30 years before they become obese. It's possible that if you have Western diet for so long, you cross a point of no return and your Paneth cells don't recover even if you change your diet. We'd need to do more research before we can say whether this process is reversible in people."

Stomach, Obesity, GKN1

A May 2021 study Indiana University School of Medicine said,

"While diet and exercise are critical to maintaining a healthy weight, some individuals struggle with weight loss -- even in cases of bariatric surgery, maintaining weight loss can be a challenge,”

"These results are an example of how a better understanding of the gut microbiome and the physiological aspects of obesity -- how our bodies regulate metabolism and accumulate body fat -- could help inform new therapies."

Obsesity, Metabolism and Brd4

A May 2021 study by Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign said, 

"One of the biggest challenges we face is trying to understand how people develop obesity. If we can understand that, we can develop solutions for treating or preventing these diseases,"

"Our previous studies showed that Brd4 [a regulator of the innate immune response] plays an important role in the innate immune response, so we were trying to understand how it influences the development of diseases such as obesity," 

"We observed that after several weeks of the high-fat diet, the normal mice became obese while the mice lacking Brd4 did not. They also had reduced inflammation and higher metabolic rates," 

"We know that bacteria in the gut can sometimes trigger diet-induced obesity. We're currently working with our MME theme members in the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology to figure out how Brd4 modulates microbes to do that,"

Simple goals protect against unhealthy weight gain

An April 2021 study by Cardiac Exercise Research Group (CERG) at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) said,

"Previously, we found that 100 PAI (Personal Activity Intelligence, tracking heart rate) a week can give us a longer and healthier life without cardiovascular disease. Our new study shows that PAI can also help people maintain a healthy body weight,"

"We already know that physical activity is an effective strategy to minimize or prevent weight gain in adults. The new study, and previous PAI studies, indicate that PAI can guide people so that they get enough physical activity each week to avoid the health hazards of excessive weight gain,"

Shared Meals to Reduce Adolescent Obesity

An April 2021 study by the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona said,

"At a time when lockdown due to the pandemic has revived family meals, this study indicates one of the possible positive aspects of the situation that we have had to confront", 

"A healthy diet is not just what we eat but also how we eat it”

"The Mediterranean diet is much more than a list of foods. It is a cultural model which includes how these foods are selected, produced, processed and consumed.”

"It is easier when children are small, but in adolescence there is a disconnect between you and them and, thanks to these conversations, you can gain a little insight into their world", 

"Just as we recommend 5 fruit and veg a day, we could also propose at least one family meal a day".

Overweight -v- Obese

An intriguing March 2021 study by The Ohio State University found that,

• "The impact of weight gain on mortality is complex. It depends on both the timing and the magnitude of weight gain and where BMI started.”

• "The main message is that for those who start at a normal weight in early adulthood, gaining a modest amount of weight throughout life and entering the overweight category in later adulthood can actually increase the probability of survival."

Intermittent Fasting and Belly Fat

A March 2021 study by the University of Sydney on mice found that, 

• "While most people would think that all fat tissue is the same, in fact, the location makes a big difference,"

• "Our data show both visceral and subcutaneous fat undergo dramatic changes during intermittent fasting,"

• "visceral [belly] fat can adapt to repeated fasting bouts and protect its energy store,"

• "This type of adaptation may be the reason why visceral fat can be resistant to weight loss after long periods of dieting."

The feeding window and obesity

A May 2021 study by the University of Surrey said,

"Time-restricted feeding has the potential to become an extremely effective tool in the fight against the obesity epidemic facing many countries. However, the study clearly shows that the ability of people to restrict their daily feeding window is dependent on their individual lifestyles.”

The study found that most people could reduce their feeding window by 3 hours.

BMI, body shape and cancer risk

A May 2021 study by he University of Glasgow and the University of Newcastle said,

"Our findings underscore the importance of measuring more than just BMI when predicting cancer risk, and suggest that people's body shape may increase their risk of certain cancers", 

"Whatever method you use, being overweight or obese is the single biggest preventable cause of cancer after smoking. More urgent actions are needed to help people maintain a healthy bodyweight and shape throughout their lives, starting at an early age."

Maintaining weight loss

A May 2021 study by University of Copenhagen and Hvidovre Hospital said,

A combination of moderate to vigorous-intensive exercise and appetite-inhibiting obesity medication is a useful way forward.

"This is new knowledge for doctors, dietitians and physical therapists to use in practice. This is evidence that we have been missing,"

"The problem is that people are fighting against strong biological forces when losing weight. The appetite increases simultaneously with decreased energy consumption, and this counteracts weight loss maintenance. We have an appetite-stimulating hormone, which increases dramatically when we lose weight, and simultaneously the level of appetite-suppressing hormones drops dramatically. In addition, a weight loss can provoke loss of muscle mass, while the body reduces the energy consumption. Thus, when the focus in obesity treatment has been on how to obtain a weight loss - rather than how to maintain a weight loss - it is really difficult to do something about your situation,"

"It is an important aspect to highlight, as you do not necessarily get a healthier body from losing weight if, at the same time, you lose a lot of muscle mass,”

"It is great news for public health that a significant weight loss can be maintained with exercise for approximately 115 minute per week performed mostly at vigorous-intensity, such as cycling. And that by combining exercise with obesity medication, the effect is twice as good as each of the individual treatments"

"Without a follow-up on whether people actually have support to perform exercise, the treatment will not be enough. Therefore, we also followed up with the participants on an ongoing basis to ensure that they received the support they needed in order to exercise. That is necessary, because maintaining weight loss is extremely hard. People need to understand this. Once you have lost weight, you are not "cured". 

"The ongoing exercise and effort will likely need to continue for many years,”

"Our study also demonstrates that without a structured treatment plan, there is a high risk of gaining the weight back. There were 12 individual consultations over the course of a year, including weighing and diet advice from Danish authorities according to guidelines for healthy weight maintenance. This was just not enough for the placebo group without exercise program, in this group all health benefits gained by weight loss during the eight week program were gone after one year, despite frequent weighing and diet and nutritional counseling based on official guidelines”.

"Therefore, it is important that there is a system for supporting people with obesity in maintaining the lifestyle change. Our study can help with this, because we can say this actually works to doctors, dietitians and municipalities, if they create a structured, joint treatment plan with the individual using ongoing follow-ups,"