Obesity: The Cellular Rejuvenation Inhibitor
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In The Perricone Weight-Loss Diet, I introduced new strategies to control
three critical factors—blood sugar, insulin, and inflammation—the
formula that ensures that we will be lean for life. To quickly recap the
inflammation–obesity connection: When we eat foods that cause a
sharp spike in blood sugar, it results in elevated levels of the hormone
insulin, causing an inflammatory response. This results in a number of
negative effects, one of which is blocking the body’s ability to burn fat
for energy, resulting in the storage of unwanted body fat (and beginning
the aging process that comes with loss of energy). When blood
sugar drops and insulin levels go down, the result is the eventual
breakdown of muscle mass.
This one-two punch has important ramifications because it brings
home the following point: It is not scale weight that is of primary importance.
We can and will actually weigh more if our bodies are well
muscled, because muscle weighs more than fat. However, our appearance
will be leaner-looking, trim, and more compact, because muscle is
denser and more compressed than fat.We will look much more attractive
with good muscle mass. A quick look at any of the men and
women on the pro tennis circuit will verify this. Yes, they may weigh
more than the current batch of skeletal supermodels and actresses, but
who can deny their physical strength, health, and beauty? Muscle also
burns calories, even when we are sleeping or resting, making it much
easier to stay lean. Controlling inflammation by carefully controlling our
blood sugar and insulin levels through the foods we eat is critical (and also
easy) if we want to lose body fat and preserve muscle.
It’s in the Genes
specific gene on chromosome 15 regulates inflammation. As I have
taught and written for the past several decades, inflammation is implicated
in a wide range of disorders, including cancer, cardiovascular
disease, diabetes, infections, arthritis, Alzheimer’s, and obesity.
According to John Blangero, Ph.D., a scientist at the Southwest
Foundation for Biomedical Research (SFBR) in San Antonio, Texas, and
the senior author of the research article on the discovery, “Practically
every common disease involves an inflammatory component, so the
discovery of a new player in the inflammation pathway opens up many
potential avenues for intervention on a broad range of health issues.”
This discovery has great significance for anyone interested in disease
prevention, anti-aging, and weight loss. Perhaps most exciting for
me personally is mainstream scientific validation of my teachings,
which places inflammation at the root of many health problems—a
concept that unfortunately was not always well received. In fact, on
more than one occasion, it has been met with great skepticism!
Even more unfortunate is that not all physicians, scientists, and
other experts keep current with the plethora of scientific studies
prior to passing judgments. The latest peer-reviewed studies are
published daily on the National Library of Medicine’s website:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi. It is free to all, scientist
and layperson alike, and an outstanding resource for the best
and brightest peer-reviewed studies from international university
research. These studies and others in the same vein firmly identify
inflammation as the culprit in many of the aforementioned degenerative
conditions. A great many studies also verify the role of vitamins
and antioxidants in the form of nutritional supplements in the
prevention and reversal of many signs of aging—contrary to the
media health gurus who imply otherwise.
Scientists are now eager to find a pharmaceutical to counter this
inflammatory gene. But why wait for a drug that might be a decade in
the making when the answer may be no farther away than your next
meal? It is my belief that these findings underscore the importance of
adopting a lifestyle whose cornerstone is the anti-inflammatory diet
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