Metabolic Dysfunction

Metabolism is the process whereby we take in nutrients from food and break them down for growth, energy and use in our bodies. Each person’s needs are naturally different to one another, and within ourselves at different decades of our lives.

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Typically your body will process the metabolites and use them in a correct way. But all calories are not equal and are not metabolised in the same way. Your body may not be able to metabolise some foods easily, and over a period of time, this process can cause metabolic dysfunction.

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Over millions of years human evolution has evolved mechanisms to store fat when nutrients are abundant, so to handle periods where food is unavailable. In most Western countries, people take more calories than they need. With industrialised food production now  large quantities of processed foods feature heavily in the modern diet. Now, food is abundant but human physiology hasn’t kept pace. This has caused a growing number of problems.    

 

Metabolic Disorders

Your body will try to use whatever calories you ingest. Anything excess will be stored. Storing some additional calories as fat under the skin is expected and healthy. Once you consumption exceeds that capacity, this excess can enter your blood stream (as excess triglycerides), enter your liver (as fatty liver), in your muscles and vital organs and create insulin resistance. Fat deposited deep inside of your body, around the organs (visceral fat), is thought to be especially risky for causing inflammation, and increasing risk of heart disease and cancer.

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Fat deposition varies from person to person, and among different ethnicities, but it is important to note, this is not just about being visibly overweight. Thin people can also carry substantial risk.

 

Metabolic Syndrome

• High blood pressure

• High blood triglycerides

• Low HDL blood cholesterol

• Central obesity

• Raised fasting blood sugar

 

If you have 3 of the above, you are classed as having ‘metabolic syndrome.’ This leads to a potential increase in your risk of cardiac and vascular disease and other illnesses too. However you don’t need to be obese to have this syndrome, and there is thinking that if you are thin, and have other risk factors then your risk may be even higher.

 

Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) & Non-Alcoholic Steato-Hepatitis (NASH)

NALFD fat is deposited in the liver. It is associated with obesity and high blood cholesterol levels. It often shows up in deranged blood liver enzymes (though they can be normal) or on ultrasound examination.

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NASH is where NAFLD is left unchecked and it starts to cause inflammation in the liver (hepatitis).

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Both of these conditions are reversible with weight loss and other strategies. If however, NASH is not managed then a proportion of patients can get irreversible scarring (cirrhosis) which can be very damaging to the body.

 

Insulin Resistance

Insulin is a hormone released by your pancreas that regulates glucose (sugar) in your blood stream. Fat deposition in the body, can drive insulin resistance. This means your cells stop responding to the call of insulin. As a response your pancreas starts to produce more insulin to pull the glucose out of the blood. This process of resistance continues despite the increasing insulin released, and eventually you have high glucose levels and high insulin levels, and increasing levels of fat deposition. Not only does this process lead to Type 2 Diabetes but it is also linked to cardiac & vascular disease and cancer

 

What is Type 2 Diabetes? (Click to Read More)

Type 2 diabetes is where your pancreas isn’t making enough insulin or the insulin it makes is no longer effective and your body can no longer manage its own glucose metabolism. Without effective intervention it can potentially damage your body over time. This includes your blood vessels, eyes, heart, kidneys, and feet. Left unchecked, this can lead to very serious illness. Adults with diabetes are 2-3 times more likely to develop cardio-vascular disease, and are nearly twice as likely to die from heart disease or stroke.

 

Preventing Metabolic Disorders

The complications of metabolic disorders can occur at any age, but are commonly seen after the age of 40. However, like a lot of chronic disease, the background processes start much earlier in our young lives. Preventive strategies applied intelligently in your early years can help reduce risk in later life.

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It is widely accepted that combined lifestyle interventions, including diet, physical exercise, stopping smoking and maintaining a normal weight can be effective in minimising risk of metabolic disorders.

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At The Orial Clinic we like to keep a close sense of what is happening early. We advise on preventive strategies coupled with early blood tests and imaging to understand your body. We recommend bio-tracking with feedback on diet and exercise strategies to see specific strategies which are optimal for you. Where necessary we may recommend medication to reduce your long-term risk.

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