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Leptin, Insulin and Brains

July 19, 2005 12:58 PM

The brief BBC article that Chris alerted us to is another in a line of research on hormones related to obesity are implicated in brain disfunction.

The article very briefly notes that leptin potentiates learning in the brain, meaning it creates a degree of flexibility in the neuronal wiring so that new connections can be made in learning. Obese people do not learn new information at a rate comparable to others (no wonder the BBC puts this as suffering from obesity, as though it is not related to their own behavior. What a dumbed down organization this has become. British taxpayers should revolt and take their money away. I doubt the BBC could survive without subsidy even in the wasteland that we see as broadcasting today.)

Of course, obese individuals are leptin-resistant and it should be no surprise that the brain along with other organs becomes resistant. The same thing is true of insulin; obese individuals are both leptin- and insulin-resistant. Thus, they suffer a strange form of brain malnourishment. Their bodies are awash in food substances, if you consider french fries food that is, and yet their brains resist the action of insulin that would open pathways to the brain to these nutrients. It is also known that fasting and exercise increase brain derived neuroprotective factors. The obese do not fast and do not exercise, so they gain no benefits from these protective mechanisms. Followers of Evolutionary Fitness do reap these benefits from BDNPFs and from their high insulin and leptin (but not political) sensitivity.


Hormonal resistance is profoundly disruptive to metabolism and many body tissues suffer. Insulin and leptin resistance are mutually supportive and beyond a point these systems go into a non-linear spiral with each increasing the effects of the other. Other hormones go awry as well. Stress hormones increase as the body tries to burn off the high blood sugar that results from insulin and leptin resistance and then other hormones react. The cascade can be profoundly disruptive and its paths are only beginning to be traced with any understanding. This makes it unlikely that any simple hormonal intervention will have predictable consequences for the whole non-linear cascade is altered.

What is truly troubling about diet and exercise advice for the obese is that far too little emphasis is put on a simple issue: the muscles are insulin resistant because they are filled with sugar and can't let any more in. To do so would distend the cell body and create a toxic internal milleau.

This makes the answer pretty clear. Burn off that sugar. Empty the sugar from the muscle cells so they will take up the dangerous levels in the blood. How do you do that? You must use the strength pathway to burn off the glycogen. ST fibers can't do the job. The FT fibers must do it. And, we know that the FT fibers have a newly discovered ability to metabolize free fatty acids and thus reduce blood triglycerides.

· Evolutionary Fitness

Comments

Posted by: Flower Online [TypeKey Profile Page] at September 12, 2006 4:52 AM

So fat people are stupid! ;-)

Anyway.......

You are right about the BBC. It is funded by a licence in the UK. Anyone who has a TV in the house has to pay a yearly fee for the privilege, even if you only watch cable or satellite channels and never the BBC. This fee then funds the BBC with its various TV, radio and (increasing) Web channels.

I have chosen at the moment not to have a TV partly because I object to the licence fee and partly because I waste my time when there is a TV in the house. I end up watching rubbish. (although I miss sport....usually end up in the pub if there is a football or rugby match I want to see). Economically I suppose I am a free rider - I still listen to the BBC radio but do not have to pay.

The BBC is a strange beast - some aspects are great - radio 4 remains the home to some intelligent and often profoundly wierd programmes. But so much is dumbed down and often very politically biased to the liberal / trendy / lefty metropolitan elite who think the world begins and ends in London and its particular culture.

Thanks for this piece though - useful expansion on what was a sketchy piece (and I didn't have the time today to find the whole article.)

Posted by: Chris H at July 19, 2005 4:31 PM

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