By Sharon Begley for Reuters
updated 5/8/2012 9:37:54 AM ET
America’s obesity epidemic is so deeply rooted that it will take dramatic and systemic measures — from overhauling farm policies and zoning laws to, possibly, introducing a soda tax — to fix it, the influential Institute of Medicine said on Tuesday.
Dr. Wilson comments:
How Can Americans avoid being fat?
I disagree that there is no magic bullet. In order to conquer obesity we need to fully understand the disease that we are dealing with. Remember that obesity is defined as excessive body fat and the only way to know for sure if you have excessive fat is to measure your body composition. Medical studies that take into account body composition rather than just weight or BMI clearly show that it’s not about excessive calories or lack of exercise.
Excessive fructose mainly from sucrose and HFCS and high glycemic is the primary drivers insulin resistance and central obesity. When someone with insulin resistance consumes high glycemic carbohydrates their brain is subjected to magnified glucose spikes. Over time these toxic glucose spikes can trigger food-induced brain dysfunction. The medical term for this condition is Carbohydrate Associated Reversible Brain syndrome or CARB syndrome. People with CARB syndrome can develop up to 21 brain dysfunction symptoms. Because the brain plays a key role in auto-regulating total body fat stores, people with the disease begin to store excessive body fat even as they lose lean body mass from dieting and under-eating.
The only way to combat the obesity epidemic is to educate the public about the dangers of food containing sugar, HFCS and high glycemic carbohydrates.
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