Loss of the Fat Mass in Space – Weightlessness/Microgravity

In weightlessness (microgravity), the human body is affected by an involuntary loss of muscle, bone and fat mass.

Note;

1. The body has weight because of the pull of gravity.
2. In weightlessness, the body doesn’t have weight.
3. No one can lose weight in weightlessness. (You can’t lose something that you don’t have.)
4. In weightlessness, the human body has mass like any physical object. In an environment of 1G and in weightlessness, the body has mass.

In weightlessness/microgravity, increased food intake will not even slow the loss of muscles, bones and fat mass.

There is no supplement, drugs or any kind of food that will even slow the atrophy of the muscles, bones and fat mass in weightlessness.

It is obvious that even a Bear will not gain body mass in weightlessness, despite excessive feeding, nor it will be saved from atrophy of the existing body mass.

The involuntary loss of the muscles, bones and fat mass is one major obstacle to any possible prolonged space travel.

The only way to slow the ATROPHY of the muscles, bones and FAT MASS is to do exercises on a specially designed exercise device for weightlessness.

The example of how weightlessness affects the body mass regulation shows us that without the pull of gravity, it will be not only impossible to gain body mass, whether it is muscle mass, bones mass or FAT MASS, but it would also be impossible to maintain the existing body weight whether you are human or a bear.

The biological basis of fat mass formation and the mechanisms of body fat distribution can be understood by almost everyone, but it takes time to explain. 

The article on my website: Food, Water, Air, Physical Activity, Gravity and Weight Gain/Weight Loss explains a little bit more about regulating the mechanism of weight gain and weight loss.

That article doesn’t explain everything, but it is the first step to understanding the biological basis of fat mass formation. Actually, it should be the talk of fat cells formation and fat mass formation, but for the sake of simplicity, I will mention only fat mass formation because the formation of the fat cells causes an increase in the fat mass and an increase in the size of single-cell increases body fat mass.

Please note:

There is only one biological basis for fat mass formation.

There are many mechanisms underlining body fat mass distributions.

You may like to read more about weightlessness and about the real science of weight gain and weight loss.

Food, Water, Air and Obesity

Like, water and air, optimal nutrition is essential for life, but the obesity epidemic in children and in adults is not caused by insufficient physical activity and/or excessive food intake.

It is impossible to explain in a few words because there is so much of a preconceived mind about the cause and solution for obesity that is born out of the wrong science of weight gain/weight loss.

1. Causes of the obesity epidemic are misunderstood.

2. The basic science of Weight Gain/weight loss is wrong.

3. The weight loss induced by weight loss surgeries is misunderstood.

4. The weight loss induced by starvation or any other diet is misunderstood. (The article which explains the mechanism underlining weight loss induced by a starvation diet will be posted on my website in a few days.)

The obesity epidemic can be relatively easy to combat, but it is hard to explain. One reason that makes it hard to explain is that the entire established science of obesity was created without knowing that the human body excretes some energy in food intake. ( Until recently, the established scientific community didn’t know that some amount of energy in food intake human body excrete as metabolic waste  - they didn’t know that stool contains calories.) You may like to read more about “The Bad Science of Obesity”.

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.