Matt Metzgar: Obesity As Starvation?

Here's a great article(pdf) that looks at the effects of high insulin levels. The article is focused on childhood obesity, but it can be applied to people of all ages. Here is a passage in the article that shows how insulin resistance leads to obesity:

"How does this work? A thin, insulin-sensitive, 13-year-old boy might consume a daily allotment of 2,000 kcal, and burn 2,000 kcal daily (or 50 kcal/kg fat-free mass) in order to remain weight-stable, with a stable leptin level. However, if that same 13-year-old became hyperinsulinemic and/or insulin resistant, perhaps as many as 250 kcal of the daily allotment would be shunted to storage in adipose tissue, promoting a persistent obligate weight gain. Due to the obligate energy storage, he now only has 1,750 kcal per day to burn.

The hyperinsulinemia also results in a lower level of leptin signal transduction, conveying a CNS signal of energy insufficiency. The remaining calories available are lower than his energy expenditure; the CNS would sense starvation. Through decreased SNS tone, he would reduce his physical activity, resulting in decreased quality of life; and through increased vagal tone, he would increase caloric intake and insulin secretion, but now at a much higher level. Thus, the vicious cycle of gluttony, sloth, and obesity is promulgated."

Amazing - a person can be overweight, yet the brain signals them to eat even more. As Gary Taubes showed, obesity is not directly caused by inactivity, but instead poor eating leads to both obesity and inactivity.