The Myths about Established Science of Obesity

My reply to the comment posted by samknox @ 05:36 PM on 5/18/201 on HuffPost – “How to Burn Calories Without going to The Gym”

Quote:

“The benefits of exercise are numerous and well-docum­ented.”

In general, it is true, but there is still plenty to discuss certain types of exercises that negatively affect health and well-being, and certain exercises even cause further weight gain.

Quote:

 “Weight-los­s isn't one of them.”

It is only half true.

1.  For people affected with obesity and particularly for people affected with severe obesity, increased physical activity alone or combined with decreased food intake will not result in significant weight loss.

2. For people slightly affected by overweight increased physical activity will always result in weight loss, and it will also result in weight loss by decreased food intake.

3. For people with an ideal body mass index, physical activity is the only way to maintain their weight and shape.

Quote:

 “Creating a "calorie-d­eficit", either by eating less or exercising more, has, for all practical purposes, never resulted in long-term weight loss,”

The body doesn’t lose weight because of calorie deficit. The mechanism of weight loss induced by increased physical activity alone or combined with decreased food intake is not due to “calorie deficit”. The article “Misconception about Energy Balance and Weight Gain-Weight Loss” explains how wrong it is to observe weight loss through the model of “caloric deficit and weight gain through the model of “caloric sufficed” http://www.biomechanicsandhealth.com/energybalance.htm

Quote:

 “and this has been common knowledge among nutrition scientists for the last 60 years.”

That is not true.

Well, some nutritionists were scratching their heads, but the science that they didn’t dare to question was the inherited science. In reality, nutritional scientists, including medical scientists, are the victims of flawed science.

Today like in the past, all over the world, in schools and universities, students are learning anabolism theory and catabolism theory. In reality, the anabolism/catabolism theory is a flawed theory.

The scientific community and the wider public have to confront the fact that anabolism/catabolism theories are created when nutritional and medical scientists believe that every single calorie that enters the human body, if not spent, will be converted into fat mass. At that time, the fact that the human body excretes calories was unknown to nutritional and medical science.

The basic science of biology needs to be cleaned from these flawed theories, and the anabolism/catabolism theory is one of them.

As long as the scientific integrity of nutritional and medical scientists is more important than real science, people will suffer from obesity and be victimised by treatments based on pseudo science. The present official science of weight gain/weight loss is not real science but pseudoscience.

Quote:

“And yet we still have "experts" telling us that we will "see" the results of exercise.”

Until recently, the world leading nutritional scientists were telling exactly that.

For example, the world's most renowned scientists of obesity were telling that: “ Get millions of people to wear inexpensive step counters and walk an additional 2,000 steps (about 1 mile) a day, or cut out 100 calories.” 

The other example is the article broadcasted on the BBC: “Cut 100 calories a day to lose weight”

These are just two examples of the belief that obesity can be solved by following the “counting calories method”. 

The Myths about the Food and Obesity

My reply to the comment posted by enjutz @ 12:49 AM on 5/20/2011 on HuffPost – “How to Burn Calories Without going to The Gym”

Quote:

"The article you link to is very poorly written."

I am sorry for that, but it is difficult to find words to explain that until recently, the scientists involved in the research, treatment and prevention of obesity did not know that the human body excretes calories. I think the arguments are more important on such an important issue.

An extensive reply to the rest of your comments I have posted on my blog. I hope you and other people will find it interesting.

Quote:

 “Embarrassi­ngly so. Humans evolved to store energy when food was abundant so that they could survive when food was not.”

Humans don’t eat food as a means to gain weight; they also do not excrete calories to control body weight.

The human body doesn’t store water or air so that it can survive when water or air is not abundant.

The theory, “Humans evolved to store energy when food was abundant so that they could survive when food was not”, is flawed. Namely, it was created when scientists didn’t know that the human body excretes calories.

Quote:

“Food is very abundant now and people don't expend the kind of energy they did even 200 years ago.”

That is what the majority of people like to believe. The fact is that people eat better and exercise more, but they still get more obese than just a few decades ago. For example, Japan is not affected by the obesity epidemic; that is just one fact that shows that an abundance of food is not a reason for the obesity epidemic. Furthermore, in the USA nowadays, more people are hungry than a few decades ago, but obesity is still far more prevalent today than what was the case just two decades ago. 

Quote:

“Sure some calories may be excreated as waste,“

For many, it is hard to confront the fact that the human body excretes calories because the entire science of obesity and the opinion on the causes and solutions for obesity were created without knowing that the human body excretes calories.

Quote:

“but if you eat 3000Kc and only burn 2000Kc the rest is not going to magically leave your body.”

It is not simple like that. The excretion and excreting mechanism are very complex. At this moment of discussion, what is relevant is the fact that obesity scientists didn’t know that the human body excretes calories. 

Weight-Loss Surgery Requires Careful Consideration – Huffington Post (blog)

Quote: “While inching through the Los Angeles rush hour, you can barely creep a mile without hearing that ubiquitous radio ad jingle or seeing a billboard proclaiming that with weight-loss or bariatric surgery, a new, thinner life could be just a phone call away.”

Link: Weight-Loss Surgery Requires Careful Consideration – Huffington Post (blog)

The message; “Weight-Loss Surgery Requires Careful Consideration” is addressed to the patient, and this is wrong because the patient has trusted the medical professionals; on the other hand, if not all, the majority of people that have undergone weight-loss surgery have already tried any other weight-loss method, and they have already followed all recommendations for weight loss, but they didn’t lose any meaningful amount of excess body fat mass.

The message: “Weight-Loss Surgery Requires Careful Consideration” should be addressed to the medical establishment, and particularly to obesity scientists and bariatric surgeons. They should ask why patients have experienced weight loss when any other program/method for weight loss has not caused any meaningless weight loss.

It is very comfortable for bariatric surgeons to talk about weight loss surgeries because they are not for medical doctors. To my knowledge, no medical doctors or their family members have had to undergo weight loss surgery. If you know any medical doctor or member of his family that has had to undergo weight-loss surgery, please let me know. 

The mechanism underlying weight loss induced by WLS is explained in the article: “Weight Loss Surgeries, Weight Loss, Diabetes and the Biomechanics of Sitting and Walking” published in the book; Mechanical Stimulation low-Grade Inflammation Weight Gain

Human society must confront the terrible blunder in medical science and practice.

The text below contains my comments on some points in that article published on Huffington Post (Blog).

Quote: “Band patients also often see improvement in obesity-related conditions like diabetes or hypertension after they've lost weight - usually within a year or so of surgery.”

The meaning of the quoted sentence is not quite accurate.

The fact is that improvements in obesity-related conditions like diabetes happen shortly after weight-loss surgery procedures. Sometimes in just days after weight loss surgery, and in all cases, it has happened before any significant weight loss has occurred.

Scientists don’t know why obesity-related conditions improve almost immediately after weight-loss surgeries, but the tragedy is that they think they know why patient loses weight after weight-loss surgery.

Quote: “Gastric bypass works in three ways.”

Gastric bypass works only in one way: it induces injury in the abdominal wall and in the stomach, and in that way, it changes the biomechanics of walking and sitting. It looks unbelievable, but before refusing out of hand, it must be remembered that the conventional understanding of weight loss/weight gain is based on counting calories and energy balance.

Quote: “First, the stomach is made smaller by closing off part of it with staples, leaving only a small pouch. Like banding, this smaller stomach causes you to feel fuller faster.”

The fact that is most important regarding weight loss is that lap-bands or staples cause physical discomfort that greatly influences the biomechanics of sitting and the biomechanics of walking.

Quote: “Second, the food bypasses part of the small intestine, meaning fewer calories get absorbed from food.”

It is wrong to say that “fewer calories will get absorbed from food”. It is more appropriate to say that less amount of food will be metabolised. (Not only is the basic science of obesity wrong, but plenty of wrong terminologies make any discussion much more difficult.)

Quote: “What they share in common: they should be considered only after other weight-loss measures -- such as diet and lifestyle modifications -- have failed.”

If diet and lifestyle modifications have failed, it is always understood as a failure of the patient.

Quote: “Like bypass, it works both by decreasing stomach size and on a hormonal level”

In reality, bypass surgery, like all other weight-loss surgeries, works by inflicting physical injury to the abdominal wall and the stomach.

The mechanism of weight loss induced by weight-loss surgeries is identical to the mechanism of involuntary weight loss induced by certain types of injuries and to the mechanism of involuntary weight loss induced by certain types of illnesses.

Quote: “-- but patients still will absorb all the calories from the food they eat.”

This is wrong. Such thinking is a relic of the recent past when obesity scientists didn’t know that the body excretes calories.

1. A significant amount of the energy in food intake will be excreted before the food is fully metabolised.

2. Some energy in food intake that is fully metabolised will leave the body for a few days long after the food is consumed.

Quote: “In many cases, these weight-loss surgeries can reverse diabetes, decrease the risk of various cancers and heart disease, and lead to an overall improvement in health.” 

It is true that these weight-loss surgeries can reverse diabetes and decrease the risk of various cancers and heart disease, but it can’t be said that they lead to an overall improvement in health. In reality, weight-loss surgeries negatively affect overall health and well-being.

 

Quote: “Although laparoscopic techniques have made it possible to recover sometimes from these surgeries in just days, they require a deep commitment to success.” 

If a patient doesn’t lose weight or it doesn’t experience any health benefits, he is always accused of a lack of commitment. This is an example of blaming the victim.

Quote: “The available procedures are classified into restrictive, in which the stomach is made smaller,”

Restrictive WLS was invented at the time when the medical scientist believed that every single calorie above the maintenance requirement that enters the body would be stored as fat mass. In those times, they didn’t know that the human body excretes calories.

Quote: “malabsorptive, where some of the areas of the small intestine where food is absorbed is bypassed,” 

When it was realised that some energy in food intake leaves the human body as metabolic waste (faeces, urine etc.), it was invented malabsorptive weight-loss surgeries. In reality, malabsorptive surgery doesn’t interfere with the so-called absorption of the energy in food intake, but it interferes with the excretion.

The mechanism underlying weight loss induced by WLS is explained in the article: “Weight Loss Surgeries, Weight Loss, Diabetes and the Biomechanics of Sitting and Walking”. The same article explains the mechanism underlying remission/cure of Type 2 Diabetes. 

Human society must confront the terrible blunder in medical science and practice.