Ockham's Razor and the Metabolic Syndrome

Overview

Journal Surg Obes Relat Dis

Publisher Elsevier

Specialty Endocrinology

Date 2021 May 9

PMID 33965350

Citations 4

Authors

Walter J Pories

Terry E Jones

Joseph A Houmard

Eric DeMaria

G Lynis Dohm

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The broad effects of bariatric/metabolic surgery on virtually every tissue and organ system remain unexplained. Weight loss, although a major factor, does not fully account for the rapid, full, and durable remission of type 2 diabetes, return of islet function, reduction of the prevalence of cancers, increase in gray matter of the brain, and decrease in all-cause mortality. This review supports the thesis that the metabolic syndrome is not a group of separate diseases but rather multiple expressions of a shared defect in the utilization of carbohydrates and lipids. That error is probably caused by a dysmetabolic signal from the foregut, stimulated by food, that limits entry of 2-carbon fragments into the tricarboxylic acid cycle, the accumulation of lactate and, in turn, increases in glucose and insulin. Surgery limits that signal by reducing contact between food and foregut mucosa. Speciation of that signal(s) may offer a new pathway for drug development.

Citing Articles

GLP-1: The Progenitor Hormone.

Buchwald H Obes Surg. 2025; 35(3):1195-1196.

PMID: 39998779 DOI: 10.1007/s11695-025-07757-0.

Metabolic Surgery and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy: Perceptions of Former NFL Players.

McGlennon T, Roberts A, Buchwald J, Pories W, Ahnfeldt E, Perryman S Obes Surg. 2024; 34(10):3703-3716.

PMID: 39292334 DOI: 10.1007/s11695-024-07475-z.

Foam rolling and stretching do not provide superior acute flexibility and stiffness improvements compared to any other warm-up intervention: A systematic review with meta-analysis.

Warneke K, Ploschberger G, Lohmann L, Lichtenstein E, Jochum D, Siegel S J Sport Health Sci. 2024; 13(4):509-520.

PMID: 38244921 PMC: 11184403. DOI: 10.1016/j.jshs.2024.01.006.

Who Would Have Thought It? : Intestinal Surgery May Prove To Be the Most Effective Therapy For Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI): a Hypothesis and a Challenge.

Buchwald H, McGlennon T, Roberts A, Ahnfeldt E, Buchwald J, Pories W Obes Surg. 2023; 33(9):2629-2631.

PMID: 37458863 DOI: 10.1007/s11695-023-06613-3.

Body mass index and risk of mortality in patients undergoing bariatric surgery.

Mitsakos A, Irish W, DeMaria E, Pories W, Altieri M Surg Endosc. 2022; 37(2):1213-1221.

PMID: 36156736 DOI: 10.1007/s00464-022-09651-7.

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