To finish up our model describing the underlying mechanisms driving disease progression, we need to think through one missing piece.
Thus far we have established a model for the underlying mechanisms that create disease, but we have yet to answer how the dysfunction of these systems arises. A human body does not simply wake up one day with metabolic syndrome. Instead, this condition slowly arises as the dysfunction of these mechanisms progress.
The human body is well-designed to maintain tight control over metabolism. As it is common for the human bodies in today’s world to be programmed with metabolic dysfunction, then there must be some sort of mechanism driving forward the progression of this dysfunction.
If we could determine the main mechanistic driver of metabolic dysfunction, then we could figure out a missing link – something that we could address with a broad approach, yet would address the entire dysfunctional system.
To figure out what this driver could be, let’s take a moment to understand the broader context of this metabolic system.
Understanding Energy Regulation
At any one moment the trillions of cells making up the human body are performing a countless number of functions in order to keep the body operating smoothly. Moreover, the quadrillions of biochemicals
forming and communicating with these trillions of cells add additional functionality, making the sum total of functions going on in any one moment unfathomable.
To perform any of these functions, every cell must be powered by a sufficient amount of energy. That energy must be provided in a particular form, that of the molecule adenosine triphosphate, better known as ATP.
To create this particular form of energy, the body must go through a multi-step process to take the form of energy it is given (i.e. food) and take it through a number of steps before finally arriving at the mitochondria, where it goes through another many steps to finally take the form of ATP.
Because every cell and biomolecule needs a consistent supply of energy to perform each and every function, it is absolutely necessary that the body has in place methods to ensure that these components are never deprived of such energy. Fortunately, evolution has designed such a system, allowing for the
successful continuation of our species throughout the millennia. The energy regulation system functions automatically, working behind the scenes day in and day out to ensure that energy is consistently available wherever and whenever it is needed in the body. The greatest part of it all – this system operates automatically, allowing us to go throughout the day, aware only of the first step in that process (that of course, being eating).
This energy-delivery system, being as widespread as it is, along with its tight integration with each individual cell, would, of course, be vital to sustaining life. It doesn’t seem such a larger stretch, then, that damage to this system would be disastrous for the very life that it supports.
For example, if the body were to lose its ability to regulate long term fat stores, that fat would be free to accumulate. This fat accumulation could then go on to cause problems down the road. Additionally, fat could accumulate in irregular places, such as in organs or tissues, making it difficult for those parts of the body to function properly.
Furthermore, what if the body lost its control over its short-term source of energy – glucose. If the body were incapable of tightly controlling glucose levels, the consequences would be immediate, as high blood sugar is incredibly toxic.
If this were the case, the body would not fare well. If the body were to lose control of its energy regulation, the consequences would span across the entire body, leading it to premature morbidity and mortality.
This is why the body has been designed over billions of years of evolution to have tight control over energy levels. If energy levels are left unregulated, disaster sets in. So, fortunately, the human body has developed many systems to ensure that this does not happen, and these systems have done an incredible job of guiding our species through the ever-changing environment over the past millions of years.
But what if something has shifted – what if a large change occurred, resulting in a sort of overload of these regulatory systems? What if this shift was so great that the well-established energy regulatory systems – the ones designed over billions of years of the evolution of life, suddenly became overwhelmed, losing their ability to regulate energy?
If this loss of energy regulation were to occur, then it would be easy for fat to accumulate throughout the body, for blood sugar levels to rise, and for a whole host of problems to follow suit. If the human body were to lose its ability to regulate energy levels, then the implications for that body would be disastrous.
Of course, this is the very mechanism that, as I will argue, is at fault for driving metabolic dysfunction and modern disease.
The loss of the ability of the body to tightly regulate energy levels, what I will call energy dysregulation, is the obvious mechanism at fault for the malfunctioning of the human body. This is the logical mechanism for the reasons described above – without tight control over energy levels, blood sugar is able to fluctuate, causing immediate danger. Meanwhile, fat levels are able to increase, causing longterm consequences.
This creates the following updated model of modern disease:
Let me make it clear that I choose this starting place for the following reasons:
- Energy utilization is a key feature of every component of the human body. Without the ability to effectively manage energy, any component of the human body would be forced through unstable energy supply, contributing to an inability to function.
- As a result, we have evolved such that energy regulation is central to a well-functioning body. The body has in place a large number of systems designed to keep energy in balance. Fluctuations in energy are easily balanced out by shifts in other parts of the system. However, strong disruptions in one part of this system can quickly and easily lead to disruptions elsewhere.
- Every common modern disease can be traced back to energy dysregulation (See References*). As the common denominator, it seems the logical place to begin.
Before moving on, let’s take a moment to understand what this model means. Let me make it clear once more that it does not mean that all of modern disease arises from metabolic dysfunction, or that any of these mechanisms is always driven by energy dysregulation. Rather, this is a model which attempts to explain the modern disease pandemic, including the fact that these modern diseases are, well, modern, and thus must have a modern cause.
Addressing disease in this manner is not going to fix the problem for everyone, but it will likely allow many, if not most, individuals to take control over their own health, largely preventing modern illness from seeping into their own bodies and taking down their one and only body decades before their time could potentially come.
Up next I will take you through how energy dysregulation drives metabolic dysfunction, along with the progression of modern disease as a whole, so that you can understand how energy dysregulation causes this problem.
From there, we can then think of solutions that we can use to address this energy dysregulation, and in turn, help ourselves prevent, or possibly even reverse modern disease.