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How Should Obesity Be Measured? Obesity has always been a paramount issue because it will raise the likelihood of developing many chronic diseases including heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, stroke and Type-2 diabetes. In the United States, nearly 2 in 3 American adults are overweight and nearly 1 in 3 is obese. People are considered overweight and obese when their BMI (body mass index) exceeds 25 and 30 kilos/m2 respectively. BMI is commonly used to measure whether a person is of normal weight or otherwise, and it is obtained by dividing that person’s weight (in kilos) by the square of that person’s height in meters. But, it appears that the researchers from the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA might not think that measurement of BMI and weight alone could help tackle the issue of obesity. They reported in the ‘Journal of the American Medical Association’ (JAMA) on January 4, 2012 that calories alone account for the increase in fat, while protein affected energy expenditure and storage of lean body mass, but not body fat storage.
To understand the role of diet composition in response to overeating and energy dissipation, 25 healthy individuals were recruited to spend time in a controlled setting to over consume diets containing different levels of protein on a randomized manner. Participants in the study consist of both male and female aged between 18 and 35 with a BMI between 19 and 30. The first participant was recruited in June 2005 and the last joined the study in October 2007. All participants were with the study for about 10 to 12 weeks so that the researchers could evaluate the effects of overconsumption of low, normal, and high protein diets on weight gain, energy expenditure, and body composition. After consuming a weight-stabilizing diet for 13 to 25 days, the participants were randomly assigned to diets containing 5 percent of energy from protein (low protein), 15 percent (normal protein) or 25 percent (high protein). During the last 8 weeks, they were overfed. The protein diets, as compared with the weight stabilization period, provided approximately 40 percent more energy intake. At the end of the study, all participants put on weight but those on the low protein diet gained less weight than participants on the normal and high protein diets. The body fat also increased for all participants, and the increase represented between 50 and more than 90 percent of the excess stored calories. During the overfeeding phase, the resting energy expenditure, total energy expenditure and body protein did not increase in the low protein diet group but the resting energy expenditure increased significantly in the normal and high protein diet groups. Lean body mass (body protein) decreased in the low protein diet group and increased in the normal and high protein diet groups. Based on the findings, the researchers concluded that calories alone contributed to the increase in body fat, while protein contributed to the changes in energy expenditure and lean body mass. Thus, for healthy people who consume more calories than they actually burn, more attention should be placed on calories rather than protein. According to health experts not involving in the study, the findings suggested overeating on a low protein diet might gain less overall body weight but it might increase body fat and decrease lean body mass. The health risks of overeating such kind of diet might simply be ignored because it might not be detected using the traditional BMI method. In other words, health professionals could have underestimated the method used to assess the obesity epidemic. Therefore, doctors and health professionals should consider assessing people’s overall fatness rather just measuring body weight or BMI. The potential complications of excess fat accumulation should be concentrated. When it comes to obesity, fat reduction instead of weight loss should be their priority. Meanwhile, they should have a better understanding of nutrition science.
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