Researchers Create Model to Predict Weight Gain

27 Jan 2017 --- With many people in developed countries becoming chronically overfed, accumulating fat, and at increased risk for cardiometabolic disease, researchers have looked at the revised Food Triangle and a new model to try to better understand the impact of exercise and the oxidation and breakdown of nutrients to fuel the body.

A food triangle, (also known as pyramid or diet pyramid) is a pyramid-shaped diagram representing the optimal number of servings to be eaten each day from each of the basic food groups.

The report sees many researchers expanding on the new Food Triangle to create a model that can be used to predict the effects of oxidative priority, which describes the fate of the molecular components of food as they leave the digestive tract.

The new model will identify if the molecular components of food are used or stored and how this impacts caloric load, risk of weight gain, and fat accumulation.

Complex factors such as caloric load, cellular respiration, and even how we perceive food all contribute to this new paradigm for defining healthy eating, which is presented in a review article published in Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.

In the article entitled “Oxidative Priority, Meal Frequency, and the Energy Economy of Food and Activity: Implications for Longevity, Obesity, and Cardiometabolic Disease,” the researchers also focus on the changing relationship with food that has emerged with modern society.

“In most modern societies, the relationship that many individuals have with food has fundamentally changed from previous generations,” the authors write.

“People have shifted away from viewing food as primarily sustenance, and rather now seek out foods based on pure palatability or specific nutrition. However, it is far from clear what optimal nutrition is for the general population or specific individuals.”

“We previously described the Food Triangle as a way to organize food based on an increasing energy density paradigm, and now expand on this model to predict the impact of oxidative priority and both nutrient and fiber density in relation to caloric load.”

“When combined with meal frequency, integrated energy expenditure, macronutrient oxidative priority, and fuel partitioning expressed by the respiratory quotient, our model also offers a novel explanation for chronic over nutrition and the cause of excess body fat accumulation.”

Adrian Vella, MD, FRCP (Edin.), Editor-in-Chief of Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders and Professor of Medicine, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, MN, adds, “This review provides valuable insights into the relationship between energy intake and expenditure.”

“This is key to understanding obesity as a public health problem.”