How Do Asian People Stay So Thin?

[YUPEATER]

Especially in Japan & Thailand I noticed myself they really like deep fried foods.

There is also a culture to eat outside the house in a restaurant or deli where you have no control on the oils used.

How do people in Asia stay so thin when they are eating so much food fried in high PUFA oils?

 

[boris]

I lived on PUFA all my life and I was a hypothyroid skeleton. The body is mysterious.

.....but I would like to know too

 

[aussiebaldguy]

thai and Malaysians are the fattest in Asia due i think the amount of processed foods added to the diet.
They eat a lot of rice fruit and green veges. They are pretty active. Also probably hot climate tend not to overeat because carrying around a big frame in the tropics is not comfortable

 

[methylenewhite]

Looks like your have never lived in Thailand. Obesity rates are super high. I don't know who invented the myth about thin Asians.

 

[baccheion]

Iodine goes with PUFAs. Based on one study, white and Asian (versus hispanic and black) women have more testosterone.

 

[YUPEATER]

I’ve lived in Thailand for a couple months. The amount of fat people is increasing that’s true. Probably because all the big american fast food companies are everywhere in Thailand now and some poor Thai people go there to often.. I guess.

In general I wouldn’t think of Thailand as a ‘fat country’ But okay..

What about Japan then? They eat a lot of fried food. And I haven’t seen fat people except those Sumo wrestlers..

 

[Herbie]

USA and Australia are fattest and full of seed oil and grain plus highly processed foods also big move away from physical labour to sedantary jobs

 

[methylenewhite]

I’ve lived in Thailand for a couple months. The amount of fat people is increasing that’s true. Probably because all the big american fast food companies are everywhere in Thailand now and some poor Thai people go there to often.. I guess.

In general I wouldn’t think of Thailand as a ‘fat country’ But okay..

What about Japan then? They eat a lot of fried food. And I haven’t seen fat people except those Sumo wrestlers..

I don't know about Japan, it's probably iodine and other seeweed active compounds.

But Thai people are fat as all other nations. Thai food=standart American diet with some local herbs. PUFA laden pork, duck, chicken, veg oils deep fried staff. 7/11 in Thailand is a junkfood heaven.

 

[Taotatoes]

My FIL & MIL are Chinese, both ended up obese and with diabetes, while eating tradionally (for the most part). These days I see so many morbidly obese Asian kids (mostly Filipino) its heartbreaking really. Overstimuating highly competitive consumer driven lifestyles and hyper palatable food is the main cause of obesity. Most people who are thin/lean these days comes down to genetics, metabolic disorders and/or the culture of vanity being even more prominent in certain places/families.

 

[Rafael Lao Wai]

Especially in Japan & Thailand I noticed myself they really like deep fried foods.

There is also a culture to eat outside the house in a restaurant or deli where you have no control on the oils used.

How do people in Asia stay so thin when they are eating so much food fried in high PUFA oils?

Caloric restriction probably.

 

[Stramonium]

Thin ≠ healthy

 

[ExCarniv]

Portion control, Japanese eat small meals despite their content.

And thin is not equal to healthy.

 

[YUPEATER]

Portion control, Japanese eat small meals despite their content.

Wouldn't this mean they have low metabolism? Which I doubt.

 

[Aaron]

Calories in:calories out. Happy to solve this mystery for you.

 

[tallglass13]

Asian , Japanese and Chinese do not eat any Dairy. Not that dairy makes people fat, but there is hormones in Milk, and lots of fat in cheese. Rice and fish, beef, pork are the main foods. I interview lots of people being in the Medical field. I have access to thousands of young and old people. I ask a lot of questions. Breakfast for Chinese usually consist of some bread and meat. Later , Rice and meat.
The people that eat the most "vegetable oils', do have lots of lipofuscin , and disease. The older they get, of course. Philipino's stopped stopped using coconut oil like their ancestors, and eat the most fried and oily foods I think, over Chinese. And they have lots of DM and HTN early.

 

[Homo Consumericus]

Asian , Japanese and Chinese do not eat any Dairy. Not that dairy makes people fat, but there is hormones in Milk, and lots of fat in cheese. Rice and fish, beef, pork are the main foods. I interview lots of people being in the Medical field. I have access to thousands of young and old people. I ask a lot of questions. Breakfast for Chinese usually consist of some bread and meat. Later , Rice and meat.
The people that eat the most "vegetable oils', do have lots of lipofuscin , and disease. The older they get, of course. Philipino's stopped stopped using coconut oil like their ancestors, and eat the most fried and oily foods I think, over Chinese. And they have lots of DM and HTN early.

"Two other ideas that sometimes cause people to avoid drinking milk and eating cheese are that they are “fattening foods,” and that the high calcium content could contribute to hardening of the arteries.

When I traveled around Europe in 1968, I noticed that milk and cheese were hard to find in the Slavic countries, and that many people were fat. When I crossed from Russia into Finland, I noticed there were many stores selling a variety of cheeses, and the people were generally slender. When I lived in Mexico in the 1960s, good milk was hard to find in the cities and towns, and most women had fat hips and short legs. Twenty years later, when good milk was available in all the cites, there were many more slender women, and the young people on average had much longer legs. The changes I noticed there reminded me of the differences I had seen between Moscow and Helsinki, and I suspect that the differences in calcium intake were partly responsible for the changes of physique.

In recent years there have been studies showing that regular milk drinkers are less fat than people who don't drink it. Although the high quality protein and saturated fat undoubtedly contribute to milk's anti-obesity effect, the high calcium content is probably the main factor.

The parathyroid hormone (PTH) is an important regulator of calcium metabolism. If dietary calcium isn't sufficient, causing blood calcium to decrease, the PTH increases, and removes calcium from bones to maintain a normal amount in the blood. PTH has many other effects, contributing to inflammation, calcification of soft tissues, and decreased respiratory energy production.

When there is adequate calcium, vitamin D, and magnesium in the diet, PTH is kept to a minimum. When PTH is kept low, cells increase their formation of the uncoupling proteins, that cause mitochondria to use energy at a higher rate, and this is associated with decreased activity of the fatty acid synthase enzymes.

These changes are clearly related to the anti-obesity effect of calcium, but those enzymes are important for many other problems.

The “metabolic syndrome,” that involves diabetes, hypertension, and obesity, is associated with high PTH (Ahlström, et al., 2009; Hjelmesaeth, et al., 2009)."

Milk in context: allergies, ecology, and some myths

Asians are slimmer because they are less affluent and more active on average or because their cultures maintain strict standards of beauty and view obesity as taboo: .

 

[CLASH]

Asians tend to store fat differntly than caucasians. They can hold greater percentages of body fat at lower BMI's, trending towards a skinny fat disposition. They tend to store fat more viscerally while caucasians store it more subcutaneously. After all, they are a different "species" of human. I think the climate and sexual prefernces may have shaped body fat distribution over time selecting for body fatness that best suits a particular environment.


Liver fat accumulation in response to overfeeding with a high-fat diet: a comparison between South Asian and Caucasian men
"While having a similar body fat % (P = 0.58), South Asians had a lower BMI (P = 0.04) than Caucasians. Liver fat content at baseline did not differ between ethnicities (P = 0.48) and was associated with visceral fat area (P = 0.002, R2 = 0.56) but not with ethnicity (P = 0.13). Overfeeding with a high fat diet significantly increased liver fat (P = 0.01) but the increase did not differ between ethnicities (P = 0.47). There was no difference in the total abdominal fat area (P = 0.37), subcutaneous abdominal fat area (P = 0.18) and visceral fat area (VAT, P = 0.32). However as a percentage of the total abdominal fat area, VAT was higher in South Asians (P = 0.003)."


Adipocyte Hypertrophy, Fatty Liver and Metabolic Risk Factors in South Asians: The Molecular Study of Health and Risk in Ethnic Groups (mol-SHARE)
"South Asians also had more body fat (md: 2.69; 95% CI: 0.70 to 4.69), lower lean muscle mass (md: −3.25; 95%CI: −5.35 to −1.14), increased waist to hip ratio (md: 0.03; 95% CI: 0.01–0.05), less superficial subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue (md: −2.94; 95% CI: −5.56 to−0.32), more deep/visceral to superficial adipose tissue ratio (md 0.34; 95% CI: 0.02 to 0.65), and more liver fat (md: 7.43%; 95% CI: 2.30 to 12.55%)."


Asians are different from Caucasians and from each other in their body mass index/body fat per cent relationship. - PubMed - NCBI
" All Asian populations studied had a higher BF% at a lower BMI compared to Caucasians. Generally, for the same BMI their BF% was 3–5% points higher compared to Caucasians. For the same BF% their BMI was 3–4 units lower compared to Caucasians. The high BF% at low BMI can be partly explained by differences in body build, i.e. differences in trunk‐to‐leg‐length ratio and differences in slenderness. Differences in muscularity may also contribute to the different BF%/BMI relationship. Hence, the relationship between BF% and BMI is ethnic‐specific. For comparisons of obesity prevalence between ethnic groups, universal BMI cut‐off points are not appropriate."

 

[InChristAlone]

PUFA just seems to cause aging, not necessarily fat gain.

Thin definitely does not equal healthy, when I was at my lowest I was at my unhealthiest ever. I weigh more now than I ever have (not overweight) and am much healthier. Also being fit and thin doesn't guarantee you life either, plenty of fit people with cancer for instance.

 

[Homo Consumericus]

Asians tend to store fat differntly than caucasians. They can hold greater percentages of body fat at lower BMI's, trending towards a skinny fat disposition. They tend to store fat more viscerally while caucasians store it more subcutaneously. After all, they are a different "species" of human. I think the climate and sexual prefernces may have shaped body fat distribution over time selecting for body fatness that best suits a particular environment.


Liver fat accumulation in response to overfeeding with a high-fat diet: a comparison between South Asian and Caucasian men
"While having a similar body fat % (P = 0.58), South Asians had a lower BMI (P = 0.04) than Caucasians. Liver fat content at baseline did not differ between ethnicities (P = 0.48) and was associated with visceral fat area (P = 0.002, R2 = 0.56) but not with ethnicity (P = 0.13). Overfeeding with a high fat diet significantly increased liver fat (P = 0.01) but the increase did not differ between ethnicities (P = 0.47). There was no difference in the total abdominal fat area (P = 0.37), subcutaneous abdominal fat area (P = 0.18) and visceral fat area (VAT, P = 0.32). However as a percentage of the total abdominal fat area, VAT was higher in South Asians (P = 0.003)."


Adipocyte Hypertrophy, Fatty Liver and Metabolic Risk Factors in South Asians: The Molecular Study of Health and Risk in Ethnic Groups (mol-SHARE)
"South Asians also had more body fat (md: 2.69; 95% CI: 0.70 to 4.69), lower lean muscle mass (md: −3.25; 95%CI: −5.35 to −1.14), increased waist to hip ratio (md: 0.03; 95% CI: 0.01–0.05), less superficial subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue (md: −2.94; 95% CI: −5.56 to−0.32), more deep/visceral to superficial adipose tissue ratio (md 0.34; 95% CI: 0.02 to 0.65), and more liver fat (md: 7.43%; 95% CI: 2.30 to 12.55%)."


Asians are different from Caucasians and from each other in their body mass index/body fat per cent relationship. - PubMed - NCBI
" All Asian populations studied had a higher BF% at a lower BMI compared to Caucasians. Generally, for the same BMI their BF% was 3–5% points higher compared to Caucasians. For the same BF% their BMI was 3–4 units lower compared to Caucasians. The high BF% at low BMI can be partly explained by differences in body build, i.e. differences in trunk‐to‐leg‐length ratio and differences in slenderness. Differences in muscularity may also contribute to the different BF%/BMI relationship. Hence, the relationship between BF% and BMI is ethnic‐specific. For comparisons of obesity prevalence between ethnic groups, universal BMI cut‐off points are not appropriate."

Interesting findings, but samples sizes are small. The first study looks at 10 South Asians and 10 Caucasians, the second looks at 54 South Asians and 54 Caucasians, and the third does not list sample size in abstract.

You say Asians are not the same "species" as Caucasians, but is it not true that South Asians, which the first two studies look at, are less genetically dissimilar from Caucasians than they are from East Asians?

 

[CLASH]

@Homo Consumericus
They indeed are small sample sizes, to be honest I didnt come up with the idea originally. I randomly googled something along the lines one time and found an interesting study showing difference in fat accumilation with mri between south east asian woman and caucasian women (I dont have that study now unfortunately). Then I started forming random hypothesis from there whenever it came to mind, especially when my dad married a young phillippina (who just moved from her native country) and I watch her body unwind as she spent more time in the US progressively.

You may very well be correct, I havent looked into. I think there are quite a few different "species" of human even among so called races.