Do We Need a New Body Mass Index to Define obesity?

Are fears of a fat planet overblown? - Diet and nutrition- msnbc.com

Present body mass index gives above 25 for overweight, and above 30 for obese people. Being overweight or obese is an annoying obsession for many people over the whole planet.

Some experts with antagonistic views are skeptical about the severity of obesity problem. They think that too many people are considered fat, with the obese and overweight often lumped together.Experts on both sides of the obesity debate have often criticized WHO's overweight and obesity measures, saying they are too low.

Setting aside the beauty element of the problem and looking at the health element, does obesity definition need a new independently funded body mass index?

Artificial Sweeteners Raises Blood Sugar The Same Way

University of Liver pool- Press Room

Researchers at the university of Liverpool-UK- found that the sweet taste receptors are present also in the intestine and not only in the tongue.

Dietary sugars absorption is documented to be by a protein - sugar portal or gateway- the activity of which is regulated by the sugar content of foods. In an unknown way, the intestine senses how sweet is the food and consequently opens the sugar gates leading to increased absorption of dietary sugars.

Professor Soraya shirazi-Beechy from the faculty of veterinary Science-Liverpool university- said "Surprisingly we found that the sweet taste receptor was able to to detect artificial sweeteners in foods and drinks resulting in increased capacity of the intestine to absorb dietary sugars, which would explain why these sweeteners are unsuccessful at helping people lose weight.

She added “We are now researching mechanisms in which these receptors can be adjusted to benefit those with diet-related disorders. Diabetes for example, is where the body’s blood sugar level is higher than normal; if we could use the taste receptor like a dimmer switch we could set it so that the appropriate amount of sugar is absorbed in the body.

Jockeys can directly benefit from this discovery - although many of them know it traditionally- and give the race horses dietary supplements before and during the race, so that increased absorption of glucose can offer the high glucose levels horses need in long races.


Diabetics and obese people have to wait until the mechanisms in which these receptors can be adjusted to benefit them, when they can be used to control the amount of sugar that is absorbed.

Finally I am obsessed about a question that is not answered, if all the sweeteners we know will lead to the the same result, why don't we take advantage of the healthy properties of honey and use it as a sweetener?
If you like to read about using, you can go here,
honey for diabetics and overweight

or here,Living with Type II Diabetes?

It Is Fats and Proteins that Affect Insulin Sensitivity

It Is Fats And Proteins And Not Carbohydrates That Affect Insulin Response or sensitivity.



What are the effects of fats ( saturated and unsaturated ), proteins and carbohydrates on the sensitivity of the cells to Insulin and other ligands that control cell activity?



First, let us see the recent researches that are connected to this aspect:



# At Rutgers University, Dept of Nutrition, Researchers found that fish oil- fed animals- have greater stimulation of the Glucagon stimulated adenylate-cyclase ( Glucagon is a hormone that raises blood glucose, and adenylate-

cyclase is its responsive enzyme). They found the stimulation is less in corn oil- fed animals, they found also that Butter fat- and all cholesterol supplemented group- fed animals show a depression in Glucagon-adenylate cyclase- stimulation. In other words, fish oil and corn oil increased blood glucose and Butter fat and cholesterol

supplements decreased blood glucose in this specific experiment.



#R.S.MacDonald and W.H.Thornton Jr. found that dietary fat composition has been shown to alter the plasma membrane lipid composition of adipocytes, muscles and other tissues. These changes in membrane lipid composition have been correlated with altered Insulin receptors binding and signal transduction( across the cell membrane).



#As is written in Medical Journal of Australia(e MJA), the functionality of proteins in the membrane is dependent on membrane fluidity ( which was found to decrease with age leading to a stiff membrane as S.M.Harman M.D. showed), especially when the proteins have to collide with other molecules to exert their effects (as in case of Insulin effect).



#Surveys in some Asian islands revealed that inhabitants never knew overweight, diabetes and cardiovascular

diseases while eating grains, vegetables,fruits and coconut oil until they changed their nutritional style to eating

the modern rich diet composed of meat, refined flour and the new wave oils, when they were found to have high incidence of cardiovascular diseases, obesity and diabetes ( 1 out of 2 is diabetic).



Before we lead ourselves to certain conclusions of these scientific findings, let us first recognize the Insulin and other ligands ( molecules that bind a receptor to exert its effects, like hormones) receptors and their surrounding environment.



Cell membranes are designed to act like a boundaries between the cell and its surrounding environment. Both the cell and its surrounding environment are composed mainly of water, then the membrane should not be water soluble, and the material that fulfils this crucial function is phospholipids which is neither water soluble nor lipid soluble at its concentration in the membrane ( to keep an intact membrane and not a detached one).



The phospholipid molecule is present in edible fats in small concentrations (except egg yolk). It is a derivative of TriAcylGlycerol ( triglycerides) ,the main component of fats, and is composed of a molecule of Glycerol attached to 3 molecules of fatty acids and is not charged. But phospholipids has an electrically charged part attached to one of the fatty acids in a triglyceride molecule, this charged part acts like a polar head that is entailing a bi-forked uncharged tail composed of the remaining 2 fatty acids. An electric charge in a molecule increases its solubility in water.



The fluidity of membrane depends on the nature of the tail of a phospholipid molecule ( the 2 molecules of fatty acids in that molecule) when they are saturated fatty acids ( present abundantly in coconut and palm kernel oils), then they are closer to each other making a denser membrane, but when one of them is mono- or

poly-unsaturated fatty acid, then the part bearing a double-bond acquires coils acquiring the shape of the letter S when bearing 2 double bonds or half the latter S when bearing one double-bond.This bend or -kink- in the molecule shortens the molecule and causes a change in the electrical affinity of the adjacent molecule at the same time, leading to more spaces between them.



Cell membranes are composed of 2 layers of phospholipids having the polar multi-head part in the outer most and innermost surfaces facing blood and cytoplasm respectively ( both are composed mainly o water ). The non-polar tails of phospholipid molecules are included between the 2 polar surfaces, and they represent the matrix of the membrane. The nature of a phospholipid layer is determined in part by the lipid matrix of the membrane ( Diet ) and its polar heads part ( genetically ).



Embedded in these 2 layers of phospholipid are Protein molecules, which act like locks on the membrane and open the cells for import or export of metabolites (products of metabolism, like sugars, amino acids,fatty acids, electrolytes....etc). The keys of these locks are either hormones or neurotransmitters ( the end product of a nerve impulse or signal ).



The receptors or locks on the cell membrane are arranged within the cell membrane in such a way to expose its functional part with a spacial configuration that has a geometrical design and electric affinity to specifically fit a specific ligand ( hormone or neurotransmitter). Any change in the position of the displayed functional part of a receptor (lock) may change the response of this receptor to its specific key ligand, with an attenuated, impaired or abolished response.



We cannot derive any solid conclusions from these results, because scientific facts cannot be based on speculations or conventional wisdom, there should be a design of many experiments that lead to an approved conclusion leading to a specific recommendations. It is a premature time to throw accusations on this side or that side.



For you and me as folks reading these published findings, we can think about what we have in hands now of solid facts. We should eat polyunsaturated fats to supply us the Essential Fatty Acids, and we can now think about using the saturated fats when our food should be exposed to high temperature to minimize the production of Trans-Fats.

Living with Type II Diabetes?