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Adult onset obesity and type 2 diabetes: a metabolic model
Author(s) -
Bernardin Charles P.,
Moller Aage
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.27.1_supplement.1217.11
Subject(s) - obesity , type 2 diabetes , overweight , dieticians , diabetes mellitus , medicine , population , weight loss , gerontology , endocrinology , demography , physiology , environmental health , nursing , sociology
It is widely recognized that controlling obesity is one of the most effective means of treating Type 2 Diabetes. We are therefore very interested in defining the conditions that cause obesity. It is also well known that adult metabolisms decrease significantly with age. Yet, to our knowledge, these effects have not been fully described. We review the physiology of the pancreas as it relates to Type 2 Diabetes. We also discuss the relationship between ectopic fat deposition and Type 2 Diabetes in sedentary adults. We briefly present the benefits of lifestyle changes such as diet and exercise. We derive a first‐order metabolic model that describes the onset of adult obesity based on the recent calorimetric measurements of Mifflin et al. (1990). We compute the metabolic rate “constants” of sedentary US adults and show that they are actually slowly decreasing functions of age and height. We believe that this model helps describe the major mechanism behind the rapidly spreading obesity epidemic in our aging population. For example, we show that 20 year old people consuming a diet that is just adequate to maintain a normal weight at age 20 are nearly ensured to reach obesity by age 80 unless they significantly reduce their caloric intake as they age. We recommend this model to Doctors and Clinical Dieticians who need to design weight reduction plans with realistic loss goals and practical time horizons for their overweight patients.