"Hunger means stress" - which is dangerous to diets
Peters, born in 1957, is a brain researcher, endocrinologist, diabetologist and adiposity specialist and works at the University of Lübeck. He also heads the interdisciplinary research group "Selfish Brain" there. In 2011, his bestseller "The Selfish Brain" appeared.
© Thorsten WulffChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: Professor Peters, would you advise me to go on a diet if I want to lose weight?
Achim Peters: No, I would not advise you that!
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: Why not?
Achim Peters: You have to look at what happens in the body when people are hungry. All studies show: All organs decrease. Only the brain remains the same weight or loses at most one percent of weight.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: How come?
Achim Peters: The brain pulls its energy out of the body when it has energy needs.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: The brain attacks the other organs?
Achim Peters: Yes. And not only when people are hungry. But also when he is in stress. When I have an exam, for example, I am excited, I have to concentrate - for that my brain needs more energy. And this extra energy orders it from the body. Among other things, using the stress hormone cortisol. This hormone breaks down tissue almost everywhere and transports the energy from it to the brain.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: And that is dangerous?
Achim Peters: Actually, that's a good thing. You can start up the brain very quickly in case of danger, and that has brought us many benefits for humans in evolution. If the stress hormones rise briefly, that's not bad either. But now there are situations that are constantly stressful.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: What are those situations?
Achim Peters: The real stressors in our lives today are: insecure work, overwork, pressure, little control, unemployment. In private life we are disturbed by separations, losses, the care of sick parents, poverty, money worries and single-parenting.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: So long-lasting worries and difficulties.
Achim Peters: And now it's going to be a problem with cortisol. If the situation is not mastered, then there is the next stage, called tolerable stress. There, the human being is still able to keep the problem at bay, for example by supporting friends or family. But if these buffer mechanisms are no longer sufficient, toxic stress occurs. It breaks through overwhelmingly over the people, and is permanently burdened.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: The cortisol stays up and does damage?
Achim Peters: Here we distinguish two types of humans, the A-type and the B-type. Suppose both have ongoing stress in the workplace. The A-types go on with their stress hormones permanently high, in-deplete themselves - and this persistent cortisol exposure leads comparatively often to myocardial infarction, stroke, atherosclerosis, depression.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: And the B-types?
Achim Peters: At the beginning they are still excited, but at some point they got used to it, the cortisol stays down! They have a hereditary protection mechanism against chronic stress, which has about half of the population: your brain creates a kind of switch that stops the cortisol release.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: But what does your brain do to energize you in the stressful situation?
Achim Peters: In B types, the brain does not get the energy out of its body reserves. But from what they consume. So B-types start to eat more. This makes them thicker.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: Does gaining weight always involve stress?
Achim Peters: There are diseases that cause weight gain, but they are extremely rare. In all other cases, stress is the cause of obesity.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: But you look relaxed?
Achim Peters: That's an ingenious protective mechanism of the brain! B types can survive in stressful environments. While the A-types get sick and die sooner.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: But there are many diseases, such as type II diabetes or joint disorders, which are due to obesity.
Achim Peters: Let's first look at the stress-related illnesses. These are, for example, heart attack, stroke, depression, infertility, bone loss. People who get used to stress are protected from it. This protection comes with overweight, nothing is in vain in life. Of course, B-types have knee and hip pain. But they are ridiculous against the serious diseases that trigger toxic stress in A-types.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: So far, all these diseases have been attributed to obesity.
Achim Peters: There are observational studies that - for scientific laymen - have suggested this conclusion. But the first people to notice that something was wrong are the kidney specialists. They have seen that their fat patients on dialysis lived longer than the thin ones. The heart specialists saw the same thing: if someone has a heart attack and is fat, he lives longer than if he is thin. Then the neurologists came in and confirmed the observation for the stroke, and so it went on.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: Who is fat, has greater chances of survival in illness?
Achim Peters: A high body mass index always proved to be favorable for the lifespan in further large observational studies - even among the healthy population. And then there was a comparative study in the US that should clarify that. She made two groups - solved. In one group people were taken off and doing sports, but not in the other group. And after years came out: those who had lost weight did not live longer than the others. And the study was big enough to be meaningful.
Because of being fat you do not get diabetes
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: What about type II diabetes? Every doctor says that he is caused by being overweight.
Achim Peters: There is no work that shows that being fat causes diabetes type II. Type A also gets Type II and Type B diabetes. Both because of stress!
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: You say type B is more stress resistant?
Achim Peters: The way in which type A and B stress produces type II diabetes varies. Type B gets used to the stress trigger and therefore has to eat more to provide enough of his brain. It is not only the body weight, but also the blood sugar. In the stressed type A, especially the lack of blood supply to the brain leads to diabetes type II.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: If Type B is dieting now, will he be under stress too?
Achim Peters: Yes. Hunger means stress. Then cortisol is released, also with type B. With all consequences.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: In other words, a diet is always associated with significant health risks?
Achim Peters: One, two days hungry you put away, but if that takes longer: yes! Some do it for a while, others even for life, these are the restrained eaters. They have permanently high levels of cortisol, as well as functional limitations in the brain.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: Because the brain is not getting enough energy?
Achim Peters: When the brain is in distress, it either demands more energy from the high cortisol. That then has the corresponding side effects. Or it saves energy. Man becomes tired, exhausted, forgetful, he makes mistakes more often. That's called burnout.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: So eat and eat more, or save food and get burned out?
Achim Peters: These are the two bitter alternatives, if you are as Type B under continuous stress.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: Explain the dreaded yo-yo effect.
Achim Peters: Dieting is a burden on the metabolism, and the brain basically exploits the body. There are good studies that also show that hunger does not go away. Even after a year of strict diet. So the patients say someday: Now I can not do it anymore, the hunger is too big. Then they eat as much as their brains need - and the weight goes up. And what are the friends doing that have praised you? They look, they say nothing, but they look. Then the affected people overcome a tremendous shame. And that generates stress, and toxic.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: And promptly the brain needs more energy.
Achim Peters: And then he has to eat more and increases accordingly.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: Why do menopausal women gain weight?
Achim Peters: Young women have a lot of estrogen in their blood, this hormone buffers stress. But when women enter menopause, the estrogen content in the blood goes down. That is, the stress protection suddenly falls away. There are some women who are getting thinner under stress, these are the A-types. Others get fatter because they belong to the B-type.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: Better not make diets as some politicians want to do with the so-called "fat tax", but fight the stress?
Achim Peters: In the US, women living in poverty have been investigated. Every day, they faced the problem of providing food for themselves and their children. They did that, but with extreme stress. Many of them got fat. Hartz IV recipients are in a similar situation with us. Now when the fat tax comes, then these people get even more stressed.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: So, what to do?
Achim Peters: Anyone who is stressed should get out of the uncertain, stressful environment. This is usually not possible. Then anti-stress programs help. About a cognitive behavioral therapy, which is paid by the health insurance.Mindfulness training is also very effective. Not everyone can change their life situation, but by such procedures, you can handle it better, the stress decreases, you do not have to eat so much. And then the weight is regulated by itself.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: But not all people will manage it.
Achim Peters: That's why you should leave the overweight alone and say: Stay as you are!
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: Instead, indiscipline is often assumed.
Achim Peters: That's a prejudice and it's in conflict with the scientific data. You can measure the mastery of eating habits, and in all the studies it comes out that fat people are much more dominated over eating than anyone else.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: Would you say that we can eat what we want?
Achim Peters: Yes. If you are fed up, then your organism is well balanced and your brain well supplied.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN: And stop the self-blame?
Achim Peters: Yes. Because that stresses and weakens the self-esteem.
The book
Achim Peters: "Myth Overweight - Why Fat People Live Longer ... What Weight Has to Do with Stress: Surprising Findings in Brain Research", 272 pages, 19.99 euros, C. Bertelsmann Verlag
