Expert: Fight obesity by eating less salt, drinking more water

To Richard JohnsonProfessor of Medicine, Anschutz Medical Campus, University of Colorado

scientific research and media coverage rampant with warning how sugar, carbohydrate, saturated fat When Lack of exercise Contribute to obesity.When Tens of millions of Americans are still overweight or obese A large part is due to the classic Western diet and lifestyle.

As Educator, Researcher, Medical ProfessorI have spent over 20 years Find out what causes obesityand related conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and chronic kidney disease.

After many years of researching obesity and its related health conditions, I’ve found that two key pieces of this very complex puzzle – dehydration and excess salt intake – are rarely talked about. Both are known to contribute to obesity.

Lessons learned from desert sand rats

Nature provides clues to the role these factors play in desert gerbils Psamomys Obesus, half-pound rodent with shrill call of the salty marshes and deserts of North Africa. They live by barely eating stems. Salicornia – Grasswort – A plant that looks a bit like asparagus.

Although low in nutrients, grasswort’s fleshy, juicy sap contains salt-rich water with a concentration similar to that of seawater.

Recent research provided new insights On why desert gerbils crave the salty sap of glasswort. Although this has not yet been proven specifically in gerbils, a high-salt diet may help convert the relatively small amount of carbohydrates ingested by gerbils into fructose. Fructose is found in fruits, honey, and some vegetables.

this help animals survive When food and fresh water are sparse. This is because fructose activates a “survival switch” that stimulates foraging, food intake, and fat and carbohydrate storage to protect animals from starvation.

However, when rats were kept in captivity and fed a typical rodent diet of approximately 50% carbohydrates, Rapid onset of obesity and diabetesHowever, when fed fresh vegetables low in starchy carbohydrates, rodents remain lean.

my researchand many other scientists’ studies over the decades show that many Americans unwittingly behave like trapped desert rats, but with limited food and water. Few people are in an environment where they are in danger. They have their survival switch on all the time.

fructose and our diet

As mentioned earlier, the monosaccharide fructose appears to play a key role in activating this survival switch that leads to fat production.

A small amount of fructose, such as that found in individual fruits, is not a problem, it is an excessive amount of fructose that is problematic for human health. Most of us get fructose from table sugar and high fructose corn syrup. I’m here.Intake of these two carbohydrates About 15% of total calories on the average American diet.

These sugars encourage people to eat more. Weight gain, fat accumulation, pre-diabetes.

Our bodies also produce their own fructose. cause the development of obesity.

Since fructose is made from glucose, high blood sugar levels increase fructose production. This process happens when you eat a lot of rice, cereal, potatoes and white bread. They are carbohydrates that rapidly release glucose into the blood.

In particular, fructose production stimulated by dehydrationpromotes fat production.

fat provides water

Fat has two main functions. The well-known first is to save calories in case food is not available later.

Major Little-Known Functions of Fat to provide water.

To put it bluntly, fat does not contain water. However, when fat is broken down, water is produced in the body. The amount produced is substantial and roughly equals the amount of fat burned.It is very important that some animals rely on fat for hydration unavailable hours.

Whales are just one example. They drink seawater, but get most of their water from food.And when they go without food for long periods, they get water mainly by fat metabolism.

hold french fries

The role of dehydration as a contributor to obesity should not be underestimated. It often happens after eating salty food.Both dehydration and salt consumption fructose and fat production.

This is why salty French fries are particularly fattening. Salt causes a dehydration-like condition that accelerates the conversion of starch in French fries to fructose.

Additionally, studies show that most people are overweight or obese don’t drink enough waterThey are much more likely to become dehydrated than lean people. Their salt intake is very high compared to lean people.

Studies show that obese people frequently high vasopressin levelsis a hormone that helps the kidneys retain water and regulate urine output.

However, recent research suggests that vasopressin has another purpose. stimulate fat production.

For those at risk of dehydration and starvation, vasopressin may offer real survival benefits. It may promote most of the metabolic effects of excess fructose, including liver, pre-diabetes.

drink more water

Does this mean that drinking more water will help you lose weight? often ridiculed for its claimsHowever, our research team found that giving mice more water slowed them down. Weight gain and development of pre-diabeteseven if the mice were on a diet rich in sugar and fat.

Evidence is growing. most people don’t drink much water In general, increasing fluid intake may help obese people lose weight.

That’s why we recommend drinking 8 tall glasses of water a day. 8 should be enough. Don’t assume that more is better. In some cases, drinking too much water can lead to water intoxication.This is especially true for people with heart, kidney, or liver disease, and those who have had recent surgery, or I am a long distance runnerWe recommend checking with your doctor about fluid intake first.

For desert gerbils, and for their scavenging ancestors, a diet of high salt and limited water makes sense. These simple measures of drinking more water and reducing salt intake offer an inexpensive, easy and healthy strategy that may prevent or treat obesity.