Diet and Nutrition: Metabolic Diseases

“You Are What You Eat; how to win and keep health with diet”, was the title of a book, that nutritionist Victor Lindlahr wrote in 1920s. Since then, several nutritionists have written extensively on this topic. Over the years, scientists, clinicians, policy makers, and professional societies, have offered contradictory advice of what to eat or what not to eat, and when to eat. In view of the fact, that my interests are focused on metabolic diseases, I will start this essay with some introduction to metabolism, as it modulates the activities at molecular, cellular, organ, and total body level. In brief, metabolism is the chemical process your body uses, to transform the food you eat into the fuel, that keeps you alive and well. Diet and nutrition by and large, consists of proteins, carbohydrates, fats and a variety of micronutrients. These substance’s when ingested are broken down by enzymes in our digestive system, and then carried to the cells, where they can be used as fuel. The body either uses these metabolites immediately, or stores them in the liver, body fat, and muscles for later use. A metabolic disorder occurs, when the metabolic process fails and causes body to have either too much or too little of the essential metabolites needed to stay healthy. In the ancient science of Ayurveda, the Indian Traditional Medicine, alterations in metabolism are called “doshas”, meaning metabolic defects. In the holistic approach, attempts are made to keep these dos has in a perfect balance, so that the risks for various diseases are not developed. All the known metabolic diseases, such as hypertension, excess weight, endothelial dysfunction, subclinical atherosclerosis, obesity, metabolic syndrome, and type-2 diabetes, have reached epidemic proportions worldwide. In this overview, we will discuss some of the known metabolic alterations that promote the risks for developing metabolic diseases and present our views on the subject.