As people worldwide continue to develop the metabolic syndrome in record numbers, scientists are looking at all aspects of the disease state – including the role of obesity. The New Scientist has a rather thought provoking piece which cites recent research that seems to indicate that obesity might actually be the body’s defense mechanism against unhealthy eating. According to one study:
Obesity protects the body from the effects of overeating by providing somewhere safe to deposit the dietary deluge of fat and sugar, which in excess is toxic to many body tissues.
On the surface, this seems pretty evident. Too much of anything is going to cause problems.
But of particular interest is the role of the hormone called plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1). Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York found that if you inject the amount of fat “typically found in a large beefburger” into the bloodstream of a human test subject, his or her body will respond by producing 3 to 5 times more PAI-1. And here’s the gem:
Kishore’s team was equally surprised to discover that PAI-1 was not produced by fat cells, as had been assumed, but immune cells called macrophages lodged in fat tissue.
In other words, too much of the wrong types of fats and sugars seems to trigger a negative immune system response that could potentially lead to metabolic syndrome.
I’d like to see if the types of fat made any difference in the PAI-1 levels. That wasn’t spelled out in the article, so hopefully the researchers involved with the study can clarify that or make that part of a future study.
Until then, remember what Jack LaLanne says: “If man made it, don’t eat it.” And try not to eat too much of it, either!