Can’t lose weight? It could be the fault of the sparing metabolism. Not an excuse but an indication that comes from a study by the University of Pisa, which explains why someone by going on a diet manages to achieve the goal and others, however, after an initial weight loss do not get the desired results. Above all, the answer at the beginning counts: those who in this phase tend to have a sparing metabolism then lose weight less. The data, published on Metabolism Clinical and Experimental, come from a small group of overweight or obese volunteers who, during six weeks of a strict diet (half of the caloric requirement), were assessed for the basal daily energy expenditure, that for the processes necessary for survival, at rest: to do this, indirect calorimetry is used, which by measuring the consumption of oxygen and the production of carbon dioxide in the breathed air estimates how much energy the body needs in a day.
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Tests on volunteers
The tests were repeated before and during the month and a half of the diet and the critical moment to understand if and how the sacrifices can be successful resulted in the beginning: if for example the basal metabolic rate lower than 100 calories compared to the expected, end of a one and a half month diet will have lost two kilos less than expected. Each has a specific metabolic profile, explains Paolo Piaggi, biomedical engineer of the Department of Information Engineering at the University of Pisa and research coordinator. Some reduce the basic energy requirement a lot when caloric intake decreases: they tend to lose less weight over time, because the body decreases energy expenditure and therefore the diet loses its effectiveness after a while.
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First stage
Already after the first week you can understand, with the test if we are destined to have more or less difficulty in losing weight; in this first period the production of insulin, thyroid hormone and leptin is reduced, the liver is emptied of glycogen stores to make up for the lack of energy, water is lost. These phenomena lead to a reduction in the consumption of glucose by the organs and therefore to slow down the metabolism, continues Piaggi.
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Second phase
In the next phase, when weight is lost because triglycerides are mobilized from the fat stores, there is a minimal further metabolic adaptation which then ceases. Everything is therefore decided with the first metabolic response, because those who adapt to the low-calorie diet by significantly lowering the body’s energy requirements will then need so few calories to survive that it is difficult to lose weight; the challenge therefore as specific to Piaggi Identify those who have a more ‘sparing’ or ‘wasteful’ metabolism, to know already after a week of dieting who will lose more weight only by changing their diet and who, on the other hand, will necessarily have to support them with greater physical activity to increase energy expenditure. Piaggi and colleagues are studying wearable systems to make analysis simple.
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30 September 2020 (change October 1, 2020 | 14:05)
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