Collateral Fattening: When A Deficit In Lean Body Mass Drives Overeating

PeatThemAll

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Oct 3, 2015
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Collateral fattening: When a deficit in lean body mass drives overeating

Abstract


"In his last review entitled “Some Adventures in Body Composition,” Gilbert Forbes reminded us that “lean body mass and body fat are in a sense companions.” To what extent the lean body mass (or fat-free mass) component in this companionship impacts on energy intake is rarely a topic for discussion, amid a dominant adipocentric view of appetite control. Yet an analysis of the few human studies that have investigated the relationships between objectively measured food intake and body composition reveals a potentially important role for both an increase and a decrease in fat-free mass in the drive to eat. These studies are highlighted here, together with the implications of their findings for research directed as much toward the elucidation of peripheral signals and energy-sensing mechanisms that drive hunger and appetite, as toward understanding the mechanisms by which dieting and sedentariness predispose to fatness."


Conclusion

"In line with the remarks of Gilbert Forbes [13] that FM and FFM are “companions,” the body's attempt to restore FFM by increasing energy intake will inevitably result in an accompanying increase in body fat. To what extent this phenomenon of “collateral fattening” will keep operating over time in situations of limited capacity to rebuild lean tissues (e.g., in older age, feeding on poor-quality diets) and underlie certain forms of sarcopenic obesity are also intriguing questions for future research to address. Overall, the phenomenon of collateral fattening is a further reminder of the importance of promoting both healthy diets and physical activity as protection against FFM deficits in strategies directed at both the prevention and treatment of obesity."
 

Giraffe

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Two quotes from that article:

The reanalysis of data from the Minnesota Experiment revealed not only that the FM deficit and FFM deficit independently predicted post-starvation hyperphagia, but also that despite the complete recovery of weight and FM, hyperphagia persisted until FFM was completely recovered to pre-starvation levels [3].

[...] nonobese dieters are at greater risk for fat overshooting than the dieters with obesity. Given the increasing prevalence of dieting among those in the normal weight range (due to pressure for a slim image, body dissatisfaction, or for athletic performance), the notion that post-dieting fat overshooting through repeated dieting and weight cycling would increase the risks for trajectories from leanness to fatness is particularly relevant to public health.
.....

I found another experiment that was almost as extreme as the Minnesota starvation experiment. Here young men ate low-calorie diets while absolving strenuous exercise during an eight-week Army combat leadership training. Of the 190 volunteers recruited for the study, only 55 "were still present for complete measurement at the end of the study ("finishers")".

They write that there was "only a moderate relationship between the change in FFM and initial fatness". Most studies only report average values. Here the changes in fat mass and fat-free mass of the individual soldiers are shown in figure 3.

Eight of the men in this study were again tested by DEXA 6 mo after the end of their training, and values of lean mass and fat mass were nearly identical to their starting values. During the course, body weights declined from 76.0 t 11.4 to 63.5 t 8.6 kg and 6 mo later averaged 77.4 t 11.2 kg (25). However, soldiers completing this training report an interim period of fat mass rebound and intensive refeeding that peaked l-2 mo after the course. This has been measured in a second study and averages -150% of the fat mass of the original measure, with the largest increase in abdominal circumference (unpublished data).
The same pattern has be observed in the Minnesota starvation experiment.

Lower limit of body fat in healthy active men
 

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