A small method can test whether you have a "physique that is easy to lose weight"?

Many people have similar doubts on the road to losing weight: Why do some people never gain weight no matter how much they eat, but even a sip of cold water I drink can turn into fat? Is there really a "physique that is easy to gain weight" or "physique that is easy to lose weight" in the world?

Recently, the video "Eating soda crackers to judge whether you have a physique that is easy to lose weight" which has become popular on various social platforms has answered this question.

Find a piece of sugar-free soda biscuit with no sweet additives, put it in your mouth and chew it without swallowing it, and time it at the same time: if you can taste the sweetness within 15 seconds, you have a physique that is easy to lose weight; if it takes you more than 30 seconds to taste the sweetness, you have a physique that is easy to gain weight.

Image source: Screenshot of social platform

But is this really the case? Can a piece of biscuit tell you whether you are more likely to lose weight or gain weight?

A person who can chew sweetness

Maybe it's really easier to get fat

The so-called "easy to gain weight/easy to lose weight physique" does not have a clear concept in medicine.

The method of using soda crackers to detect obesity/thinness was first introduced in 2016 by Dr. Sharon Muallem in a book called "Gene Reboot." Its accuracy has not been fully studied and measured.

However, from some perspectives, some people are indeed more likely to gain weight than others, and the judgment method of "chewing soda crackers and feeling the sweetness" does make sense.

The ingredients of soda crackers are very simple, mainly wheat flour, corn starch and some yeast for food processing. Among them, the main component of wheat flour is starch.

Although starchy foods themselves are not sweet, they are an important source of sweetness - when chewing, the human salivary glands secrete a substance called "salivary amylase", which breaks down starch into various sugar molecules.

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When eating starchy foods such as white flour buns, some people feel they are very sweet, while others feel they have no taste. This is because each person has a different number of copies of the gene AMY1 that encodes salivary amylase.

In short, the more copies of AMY1 there are, the stronger the ability of salivary amylase to decompose starchy foods, and the sweeter they taste when you eat starchy foods. If there are fewer copies, it is difficult to chew sweetness.

There is a certain relationship between the AMY1 copy number and the risk of obesity.

In 2014, more than 30 scholars collaborated on a study that found that the fewer copies of AMY1, the higher the risk of obesity and body mass index. The specific data is even more shocking: people with more than 9 copies of AMY1 have an eight-fold higher risk of obesity than those with less than 4 copies of AMY1.

From this perspective: people who find it harder to taste sweetness are indeed more likely to become fat.

A study the following year further explored the relationship between AMY1 copy number and obesity. The researchers found 1,257 men aged 20 to 65 who had regular physical examinations and tested their blood sugar and insulin levels after meals.

The conclusion is: A higher AMY1 copy number can reduce the level of "insulin resistance". On the contrary, people with a low AMY1 copy number tend to have higher insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is precisely the pathophysiological basis of common problems such as obesity, hypertension, and diabetes.

Therefore, although it is not very rigorous to use soda crackers to judge whether you are prone to gaining weight or losing weight, it does make sense. However, the reason why you are more likely to gain weight or lose weight than others is far more than just the number of AMY1 copies.

Some people are born with it.

“Potential to gain weight”?

The terms "fat-prone" and "thin-prone" are not rigorous. If you think you have the "potential" to gain weight, it may be related to the following aspects:

For example, some people are born to love carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates make people happy, but they also make people fat. After entering the body, carbohydrates will be broken down into glucose. Once excessive intake, when it cannot be consumed by the body, it will be converted into fat and stored in the body.

I wonder if everyone who feels they are prone to gaining weight has someone around them who doesn’t like to eat staple foods. For them, eating vegetables and meat is enough to make them full, so it doesn’t matter if they don’t eat rice or noodles.

In fact, this is not just a psychological matter of greed or not, but is related to physical constitution.

Studies have found that the apolipoprotein gene APOA2 has different expressions in different people, which determines their different preferences for fat, protein, and carbohydrates.

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In addition, a series of other genes in the human body that you can't even name may also affect your appetite, the amount of food you eat, and the body's ability to burn calories and control fat.

Many people have experienced this crazy moment: you eat the same food as your friends and exercise the same amount, but the fat just grows on you. In fact, it is probably a genetic problem: if the ability to metabolize carbohydrates is insufficient, sugar will be more easily converted into fat.

Of course, in addition to genes, the type of intestinal microorganisms is also an important factor in determining whether you are fat or thin.

A British professor tracked a pair of twins for 25 years and found that the thinner twin had a wider variety of intestinal microbes, while the heavier twin had a relatively smaller variety of intestinal microbes. This pattern was also evident in the 5,000 subjects he later studied.

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So, if you feel that you are more likely to gain weight than others, it may not be because you are not strong enough, but that it is "destined".

Can I make myself less likely to gain weight?

There is good news: although everyone's innate physique is different and genes are not easy to change, through subsequent efforts, you can still escape the fate of "getting fat".

In addition to the weight loss principle of eating less and exercising more, there are also many things to pay attention to when it comes to eating and exercising.

1. Eat as many different fibers as possible, such as fruits including berries, vegetables such as broccoli and carrots, and various beans, legumes, and nuts to maintain the diversity of intestinal microorganisms.

2. Eat less refined staple foods (such as rice, rice cakes, and glutinous rice balls) and desserts, and ensure the intake ratio of coarse grains and whole grains.
3. Overcome overeating and develop the habit of chewing slowly and eating until you are 70% full.

4. Don’t deliberately skip breakfast, lunch, or dinner in order to lose weight. Many studies have shown that people who skip one meal are more likely to gain weight than those who eat three meals a day.

5. If you already have a tendency to insulin resistance, remember that it can be reversed through a healthy diet, moderate exercise and a regular schedule.

One thing you need to understand is that losing weight is not only about fighting against your willpower, it may also be about fighting against difficult genes. If you want to achieve your goal, you must not only maintain a good attitude, but also know how to follow scientific eating and exercise methods.

Of course, after reading this, if you want to test whether your genes make you more likely to gain weight compared to other people so that you can adopt appropriate eating and exercise methods, you can indeed try the cost-effective method of chewing soda crackers.

But you must be careful not to swallow it in a hurry, and hold it for at least 15 seconds. Otherwise, the first result you get will only be: you are a greedy girl/guy.

References

[1]Moalem S. The DNA Restart: Unlock Your Personal Genetic Code to Eat for Your Genes, Lose Weight, and Reverse Aging[M]. Rodale, 2016.

[2]Falchi M, El-Sayed Moustafa JS, Takousis P, Pesce F, Bonnefond A, Andersson-Assarsson JC, Sudmant PH, Dorajoo R, Al-Shafai MN, Bottolo L, Ozdemir E, So HC, Davies RW, Patrice A, Dent R, Mangino M, Hysi PG, Dechaume A, Huyvaert M, Skinner J, Pigeyre M, Caiazzo R, Raverdy V, Vaillant E, Field S, Balkau B, Marre M, Visvikis-Siest S, Weill J, Poulain-Godefroy O, Jacobson P, Sjostrom L, Hammond CJ, Deloukas P, Sham PC, McPherson R, Lee J, Tai ES, Sladek R, Carlsson LM, Walley A, Eichler EE, Pattou F, Spector TD, Froguel P. Low copy number of the salivary amylase gene predisposes to obesity. Nat Genet. 2014 May;46(5):492-7. doi: 10.1038/ng.2939. Epub 2014 Mar 30. PMID: 24686848; PMCID: PMC6485469.

[3]Choi YJ, Nam YS, Yun JM, Park JH, Cho BL, Son HY, Kim JI, Yun JW. Association between salivary amylase (AMY1) gene copy numbers and insulin resistance in asymptomatic Korean men. Diabet Med. 2015 Dec;32(12):1588-95. doi: 10.1111/dme.12808. Epub 2015 Jun 4. PMID: 25996848.

[4] Thomas M Barber, Ahsan A Bhatti, Patrick JD Elder, Sarah P Ball, Ronan Calvez, David B Ramsden, Dan J Cuthbertson, Andreas F Pfeiffer, David Burnett, Martin O Weickert, AMY1 Gene Copy Number Correlates With Glucose Absorption and Visceral Fat Volume, but Not with Insulin Resistance, The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, Volume 105, Issue 10, October 2020, Pages e3586–e3596

[5]Corella D, Arnett DK, Tsai MY, Kabagambe EK, Peacock JM, Hixson JE, Straka RJ, Province M, Lai CQ, Parnell LD, Borecki I, Ordovas JM. The -256T>C polymorphism in the apolipoprotein A-II gene promoter is associated with body mass index and food intake in the genetics of lipid lowering drugs and diet network study. Clin Chem. 2007 Jun;53(6):1144-52. doi: 10.1373/clinchem.2006.084863. Epub 2007 Apr 19. PMID: 17446329.

[6]"Insulin Resistance & Prediabetes". National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. May 2018.

Planning and production

Author: Li Mi, popular science creator

Review丨Zhang Yu, researcher/PhD, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, national health science expert

Planning丨Fu Sijia

Editor: Fu Sijia

Proofread by Xu Lai and Lin Lin

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