People with metabolic syndrome carry a far higher risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes than those whose weight is within a normal range. Over recent decades a great deal of research has focused on the causes of obesity and on how to prevent or treat it.
Obesity and willpower
Many people believe that weight gain and obesity are caused by a lack of willpower. That is not quite true. Weight gain is largely the result of lifestyle and eating habits. Some people are simply prone to putting on weight. People can of course overcome a genetic predisposition by changing their lifestyle and behaviour — but those changes take will, commitment and persistence. Below are some of the factors that count among the main causes of obesity and metabolic disease.
A fatty liver
The liver is the largest organ in the human body, and a special one, because it can regenerate its own tissue: up to three quarters of it can be removed and it will return to its original size in about a month. The liver performs some 500 bodily functions. It plays a role in processing food, sugars and fats, and it is central to the body's defence system — the immune system. It processes almost everything a person eats, breathes in or takes in through the skin. About 90% of the nutrients in the body pass through the liver from the small and large intestine. The liver turns food into energy, stores that energy and produces blood proteins. It also removes bacteria and toxins from the blood, and stores several nutrients, including vitamins A, D, B9 (folate) and B12.
A fatty liver develops as a result of metabolic disorders, vitamin deficiency and chronic poisoning by certain toxic compounds. People with diabetes and hyperthyroidism carry a raised risk of steatosis.
Cheap unhealthy food
Highly processed foods are products designed to be cheap, to keep on the shelf for a long time and to taste so remarkable that they are hard to resist. By making products as palatable as possible, food manufacturers aim to increase their sales. Shops are full of processed food that is difficult to say no to.
Food addiction
Heavily sweetened, sugar-rich, harmful foods stimulate the pleasure centres of the brain. Their effect is often compared to that of alcohol, cocaine, nicotine and cannabis. Junk food can cause addiction in susceptible people. They lose control over their eating habits in the same way that people struggling with alcohol dependence lose control over their behaviour when drinking. Addiction is a complex problem and very hard to overcome. When you become addicted to something you lose your freedom of choice, and the biochemistry of your brain begins to change.
Aggressive marketing
Manufacturers of unhealthy food use highly aggressive advertising strategies. Their tactics can be unethical, and they sometimes try to sell unhealthy products as health food. These companies also make untrue claims. Worse still, they aim their marketing specifically at children.
Today children are overweight, diabetic and addicted to junk food long before they are old enough to make informed decisions on these matters.
Insulin
Insulin is a very important hormone that regulates energy storage. One of its functions is to tell fat cells to store fat and to hold on to the fat they already carry.
The Western way of eating predisposes people to insulin resistance. It raises insulin levels in the body, causing energy to be stored in fat cells instead of being available for the body to use.
One of the best ways to lower insulin levels is to reduce the consumption of simple or refined carbohydrates while increasing fibre intake. This usually leads to an automatic reduction in calorie intake and to weight loss, without any need to count calories or control portions.
Certain medicines
Many pharmaceutical products can cause weight gain as a side effect. Antidepressants increase weight over time. Other examples include diabetes medicines and antipsychotics. These medicines change the functions of the body and brain, slowing metabolism or increasing appetite.
Leptin resistance
Leptin is a hormone produced in fat cells that carries a signal to the brain to stop hunger and raise metabolism. In leptin resistance that signal is disrupted, as a result of excess weight, uncontrolled eating or too many diets of every kind. When leptin levels are critically low, hunger becomes a relentless marathon and satiety an impossible mission. Fasting, and eating too few calories, lower leptin levels in the body, appetite rises again and leptin resistance sets in. With leptin resistance you become both fatter and hungrier.
Sugar
The sugar added to so many products is perhaps the worst aspect of the modern diet. Excessive sugar consumption changes the hormones and the biochemistry of the body, which in turn contributes to weight gain.
Although we cannot fully control our bodies, we can learn to control our eating habits and change our way of life. The idea that all of this is caused by a lack of willpower is exactly what food manufacturers want us to believe, so that they can carry on selling.
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