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According to a new study published in Nature MetabolismObesity is not just a matter of weight in relation to height or body mass index (BMI): there are actually at least four types of metabolic bodies.
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The research also found that those who fit into the BMI category of overweight or obesity are not destined to develop diseases previously thought to be directly related to weight.
For decades, a calculation, body mass index (BMI) has been used to determine if someone is overweight or obese. BMI compares weight to height, and when that number is high, doctors are likely to tell patients they are at risk for health problems and therefore need to lose weight.
However, it turns out that this equation is not a reliable marker of health outcomes. Some people who fall into the “obese” category based on BMI may never be diagnosed with the disease, while others in the “normal” BMI range may have a genetic predisposition to the disease. heart disease and other diseases, regardless of your weight.
“It has been clear to us for a long time that there are at least three types of people when it comes to obesity: those who are healthy and obese, those who are obese and have comorbidities, such as diabetes either heart diseaseand those who are obese and on track to develop comorbidities,” Andrew Pospisilik, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Epigenetics and founding member of the Metabolic and Nutritional Programming Group at Van Andel Institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan has Bicycling. “We wanted to see if we could start to identify the genetic variations in these different ‘types’ of obesity.”
To examine types of obesity, Pospisilik and his team studied twins and the ways their weight varied over the years. Next, they tried to mimic their findings in mice.
“Using a purely data-driven approach, we saw for the first time that there are at least two different metabolic subtypes of obesity, each with its own physiological and molecular characteristics that influence health,” Pospisilik said. “Our findings in the lab almost carbon copied the data from the human twins. We again saw two different subtypes of obesity.”
Until now, scientists have placed people into one of three metabolic types: endomorph (stores fat easily), mesomorph (gains muscle easily), and ectomorph (lean, struggles to gain fat or muscle). However, recent findings, published this month in Nature Metabolismdivides people into four metabolic subtypes (two lean-prone and two obese-prone) that could one day help doctors deliver more accurate care to patients and inform more accurate ways to diagnose and treat obesity and associated metabolic disorders, Pospisilik explained.
The team also found that of the two obesity-prone metabolic subtypes, one was associated with increased inflammationthat can increase the risk of certain cancers and other diseases, while the other was not. It also appeared that some genes responded to certain triggers, such as lifestyle choices or specific foods, leading to weight gain and disease susceptibility, while others did not.
The science of studying how genes are affected by behavior and the environment is called epigenetics. Pospisilik, an epigeneticist, doesn’t study, for example, what foods or lifestyle choices can alter a person’s weight, but instead looks for genetic predispositions that coordinate with weight and how that might influence disease.
Unlike genetic alterations, epigenetic changes are reversible and do not modify the DNA sequence. “I like to tell people that all bees are born with the same DNA, but some become worker bees and some become queen bees. In the end, all queen bees are genetically like other queen bees. How does that happen? Epigenetics are the processes that can guide the same bee DNA to become a queen or a worker, but nothing in between,” Pospisilak said.
Pospisilak and his team found that this same idea applies to humans and their weight and health. While a person is more likely to muscle developmentanother might be more prone to weight gain, and your subsistence allowance can be very similar.
“Between the twin studies and the mouse studies, we can really show how each individual may have several genetically preprogrammed pathways available, with lifelong consequences,” Pospisilak explained.
In the end, the new research confirms that there is more to health and fitness than the number on the scale or in a BMI chart.
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