Title: 
The formation of fat and the glycemic index

Word Count:
587

Summary:
Obese  people generally have higher insulin levels than people who are not  obese, and any food they eat is more likely to proceed directly  into storage as fat in the presence of this increased amount of insulin.


Keywords:
formation of fat, glycemic index, insulin, obesity


Article Body:
<p>The glycemic index helps explain the dynamics of weight gain and loss  very well. Although it is not likely that this is the complete reason in  all people why weight is gained in the face of substantial calorie  restriction, it would appear to be a primary factor. But before going  into what this index is and why it is vital in the management of  one's diet, let's look first at how fat is formed, and how fat can later be broken down.<br />
  Insulin  plays a major role in the storage of all the breakdown products  of food that are absorbed into the bloodstream. Glucose (carbohydrates),  triglycerides (fats), and amino acids (proteins) are all  pushed into storage forms in the cells of the body by insulin. Obese  people generally have higher insulin levels than people who are not  obese, and any food they eat is more likely to proceed directly  into storage as fat in the presence of this increased amount of insulin. This  is one reason why obese people can eat very little and still not lose (or possibly  even gain) weight.Since the level of  circulating insulin in the body is so important in causing food to become fat rather than to be directly utilized for energy,  it is vital to understand what directly stimulates or suppresses the amounts of insulin released from the pancreas (the organ that forms and stores insulin). When glucose  is released into the bloodstream from the digestion of food, insulin is  immediately released to help metabolize that sugar. However, and this is crucial,  the faster glucose is dumped into the bloodstream, the more insulin is released. The SAME total amount of glucose  released more slowly over a longer  time will result in much LESS of a total insulin release from the pancreas.  Therefore, a "spike" of glucose released into the bloodstream  effectively overstimulates the pancreas, resulting in an over-release of  insulin for the actual amount of glucose absorbed. This mismatch of too much  insulin for too little glucose has predictable and consistent negative  effects on the body.What does too rapid an  insulin release do to the body? First, much  of the rapidly released glucose that caused the increased insulin release will end up being directly stored  as fat. And since this phenomenon is  related more to the rate of glucose release than to the total amount of glucose being released,  glucose can be stored as fat even  when the total calorie count of the food is severely restricted! Any diet that restricts calories but  still regularly allows for a sugary  dessert as a portion of those calories totally misses this important point. If you want to lose weight, you  must choose the right food and digest  it properly. Delightfully, as we shall see, feeling hungry all of the time is not required in this  weight loss process.Also important in  understanding this interplay of glucose and insulin is the fact that glucose, and not other forms of sugar, is the major  stimulus for insulin secretion. Fructose, the major sugar in most fruits, has much less of an effect on the  release of insulin. Fructose will  affect glucose levels only after it undergoes a transformation process in the liver. Therefore, fructose cannot  directly cause a spiking of glucose  into the bloodstream from the gut with a corresponding over-release of insulin. However, when the levels of glucose are already high, both fructose and amino  acids can help to stimulate the  further release of significant amounts of insulin.</p>