Why excess weight takes years off your life

Everyone knows that excess weight is not healthy.  Carrying excess weight around puts a strain on your heart and joints but it can also contribute to a load of other more serious illnesses; type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer of the kidneys, colon and liver.  What's more, high blood levels of glucose, commonly found in overweight people,  make them look older than they really are.

A lot of the blame lately is on sugar... Carbs make us fat, however, new information points  to the possibility that it may be the fat itself that is causing all of these problems due to a build-up of a type of cell called senescent cells.

Senescent cells are simply cells that have grown old and have stopped dividing.  Until recently it was thought that when healthy cells become senescent they just sit around doing nothing, however this is not the case.

Judith Campisi, a professor at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, California, USA, started studying these senescent cells way back in the 90s.  Professor Campisi and her team discovered that when cells become senescent they secrete molecules called cytokines - a molecule that causes chronic inflammation.

"Inflammation causes or is a major contributor to, virtually every age-related diseases we know," she said.

To test this, investigators created mice that lacked the gene for a key protein, making them age prematurely due to an accumulation of senescent cells.  These mice developed cataracts early in life and in middle age they became frail and wrinkled.

The investigators then administered a drug treatment to remove the senescent cells from the mice.  The results were astounding, the mice became stronger and their cataracts cleared up, even their wrinkles disappeared.

Dr. Kirkland, co-author of the study said that one day we may be able to have our senescent cells removed - a bit like changing the oil in a car, but until then the best way to prevent the aging process is to lose any excess weight you may be carrying.

Dr. Kirkland has discovered that the largest amount of senescent cells accumulates in human fat tissue.  As we age, our subcutaneous fat becomes visceral fat, which is the dangerous kind, accumulating around our vital organs.  Visceral fat produces cytokines - those molecules that cause chronic inflammation and are also linked to cancer, and insulin resistance.

Dr. Kirkland believes that senescent cells found in visceral fat may well be the major culprits in systemic inflammation that accompanies aging.

In an amazing experiment in 2008, visceral fat was surgically removed from obese lab rats.  Those rats lived 20% longer than their counterparts who were still obese.

Unfortunately, the same can not be done in humans.  Human visceral fat is completely entwined with our blood vessels and organs, making it too difficult to remove surgically.

So, how do we stay young until a senescent removal procedure is invented?

You have to MOVE!  Constant movement improves and maintains muscle tone.  In fact, exercise is so good for you it can help with your junk food addiction!

Dr. Nathan LeBrasseur, Mayo Clinic, USA, studies metabolism and has just finished an exciting experiment that highlights the powerful effects exercise has on the body.

In the lab, he fed mice a specially designed diet that mimicked the nutritional content of a fast food diet - burger, fries and soda.  The mice had previously been genetically modified so that any senescent cells would bind to a fluorescent marker so that they would glow in the dark.

After a few months of eating the junk food diet, the mice lit up like Christmas trees due to the amount of senescent cells in their bodies.  Unlike their normal diet counterparts.

Some of the junk food mice had been put on an exercise program as well as the special diet.  These mice had developed a lot less senescent cells.  Effectively proving that exercise negates the toxic effects of junk food.

We know that muscle is important for burning calories and in order to have good muscle tone you need to exercise.  However, the benefits of muscle don't stop there.  Professor Mark Febbraio, head of metabolism and inflammation at the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne, Australia found in 2003 that when you contract muscle it is actually an endocrine (hormonal) organ, and that muscle can communicate with other tissues.

What Prof. Fabbraio discovered was a cytokine (IL-6) which is usually associated with negative consequences such as; age-accelerating inflammation and early death.

Exercise produces large quantities of IL-6, BUT, in this context it is a good thing - it signals the liver to convert fat into fuel - in exercise IL-6 is actually an anti-inflammatory.  IL-6 is found at constantly high levels in obese and elderly people - signaling high levels of inflammation.

Younger and normal weight people have lower levels of IL-6, but when they exercised this level shot up and then dissipated over a few hours - telling other organs such as the liver to switch to exercise mode.

So, where as I would NEVER recommend eating junk food on a regular basis -  if you are going to then make sure you exercise regularly.

Prevention is key.  Eat healthily, move as much as possible and put up a fight against aging!

I can help you improve your health.  If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com