Keeping the obesity disease at bay

RCB was privileged to have hosted Professor Dr. Nikhil Dhurandhar, Department Chair at the Department of Nutritional Science, Texas Tech University at the 27th December weekly meeting held at the Taj, Colaba. Professor Dhurandhar, is a past President of the Obesity Society (North America chapter) and a homeopathic practitioner who immigrated to the USA from India. “We are privileged to have Nikhil, his wife, daughter in law, son and grandson to join us today.” said Dr. Mukesh Batra, President, RCB. As a physician and nutritional biochemist, he has been involved with obesity treatment and research for over 30 years and has treated over 10,000 patients for obesity using lifestyle therapy as well as pharmacological approaches. An editor of the International Journal of Obesity, Dr. Dhurandhar has published over 125 scientific articles, and book chapters.

Professor Dhurandhar made an extremely interesting presentation on ‘Fact vs. fiction, the key to successful weight loss’ that was followed by a question and answer session that would have gone on much beyond 2.30 p.m. had the chair allowed it. “The talk was very insightful which cleared many misconceptions and this reflected in the level of audience participation despite a hearty lunch,” said Rtn. Mudit Jain.

“The key to obesity management is to manage the disease in toto including side-effects of therapy,” said Professor Dhurandhar. Obesity is a disease like any other, is something that has been declared by the American Medical Association. It has been studied extensively since the 1980s and over 90 contributors have been identified by the Obesity Society as contributing to the disease.

Professor Dhurandhar who has also worked with Aamir Khan to lose weight while gaining muscle mass, for his rippled look in the film Dangal, has worked with a number of celebrities too in the past.

“There are certain innate factors within you that can predispose you to obesity. These include under nutrition of a foetus while in the mother’s womb. We can’t do anything about these innate factors,” explained the experienced practitioner. Similarly, obesity is also caused by infections through viruses such as Adenovirus 36 that was discovered by Dr. Dhurandhar in the 1980s. However, research has still to produce a vaccine against such infections. “Food doesn’t cause obesity. The obesity is already in you and expresses itself in the form of excess fat stored in your body,” said Professor Dhurandhar. He gave the example of experiments conducted on sugar consumption in case of diabetic patients and non-diabetics. Research shows that in the case of normal individuals, the body uses coping mechanisms such as increasing the metabolic rate to burn the excess calories while in the case of diabetics, their sugar levels in the blood stream remain elevated.

He also called the bluff on firms who claim to have come up with magic pills and other supposedly hidden secrets to cure obesity. Similarly, he said that a number of techniques promising local THE BULLETIN OF THE ROTARY CLUB OF BOMBAY JANUARY 03, 2017 3 application such as wearing belts etc. or going for sauna/steam baths are not effective in reducing fat from specific body areas such as thighs etc. “The body needs to use the fat by turning it into energy. “Techniques promising spot reduction of fat using local application are absolutely useless,” said Dr. Dhurandhar.

He offered some practical tips on helping to sustainably control one’s diet as an adjunct to exercise, to help fight the obesity epidemic. Often one is told that jogging/ running is better than walking for burning calories or that brisk walking is required. But Dr. Dhurandhar said that as long as the distance covered is the same, it makes no difference which mode of exercise one chooses amongst the above. He also recommends eating a high protein diet in the waking hours of the day when one is more prone to the temptations of bingeing or indulging in high calorie savouries/ pastries/desserts. “Protein has higher satiety value. So eating a big dinner with lots of protein content represents a lost cover of feeling full that could be better used in the waking hours. Move that meal to the day when you are more exposed to temptations,” said Professor Dhurandhar.

He recommended a diet that is sustainable and customised to not just the physiology of the person and their health conditions but also for their preferences in terms of food choices. “A sustainable diet is one that is nutritionally complete with adequate amounts of proteins, vitamins, minerals etc. but is low in calories,” said Professor Dhurandhar. “There is no magic bullet yet invented that, helps you lose weight without following a professional diet,” he added. He urged members to remember that there is no miracle weight loss technique discovered out there. Even genetic testing only helps identify and correlate body composition to what technique will best aid in weight reduction. Similarly experiments with altering the composition of beneficial bacteria in the gut which seemed to show lot of promise in obesity management in animal trials, have failed to show results in human trials.

He also urged Rtns. not to be influenced by results of celebrities they idolise and try to compare their own journey to fitness with that of their idols. “You need to be very dedicated and focussed and an exemplary patient to achieve film star-like results.”By setting the bar very high, normal individuals risk setting themselves up for failure,” said the Professor. He said weight loss directly correlates to the calorie content of what you eat. “Pick a diet and it will benefit you.” said Dr. Dhurandhar.

He cautioned women who at times get obsessed with achieving a size zero figure that losing too much body weight and fat can stop ovulation and menstruation.

Here are Professor Dhurandhar’s four golden rules for weight loss:

1) Lapses happen. Don’t give up on a diet because you over-indulged on a vacation or at a party or a wedding. “Don’t let the lapse progress to a relapse that results in a collapse of your diet plan.”

2) The way your body responds to a weight loss program may be different from the way your friends do. Don’t compare your journey and get disheartened.

3) The diet that works the most is the one which you can stick to, for a long time.

4) Practise polite ways to say no at social functions where everyone expects you to eat heartily and may be offended if you don’t. “For instance, if you take food in your plate then no one will bother you and since you are in control of what is best for your body, you needn’t finish your plate.”