• Question: Hello ! I'm working on sumo wrestlers and their diet, and what they do in order to become as big as they are. I was wondering why the exess of proteins lead to a weight gain ? and also why does skip breakfirst lead to a weight gain ? Why does sleeping after a meal lead to a weight gain ? and finally, what's the link between obesity and cardiovascular diseases ? Sorry, they are quite a lot of questions but I didn't find thes answer on internet ! Thank you very much ! Mathilde

    Asked by Quentin and Mathilde to Ruth, John, Dilip, Andrew on 18 Nov 2015.
    • Photo: Andrew Quigley

      Andrew Quigley answered on 18 Nov 2015:

      I’m going to attempt to answer this question, but this is waaay outside my area 🙂

      Excess protein is converted to sugar and fats, and as we know, the more sugar and fats we eat our weight generally increases.

      While skipping breakfast my cause you to temporally cause some weight loss, you tend to eat bigger meals later on leading to an increase in weight. And I think by being hungrier for longer your body tends to store more calories, again leading to a weight gain.

      I don’t think sleeping after a meal would significantly increase weight. What would happen if you had a big meal and went for a sleep, compared to having the same meal and just sitting down for the same time as you slept? I think it may be caused by the lack of exercise than actual sleeping.

      Obesity can lead to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and an increased risk of blood clots which could potentially cause stroke. These factors all contribute to high risk of cardiovascular diseases and are a direct result of obesity.

      Great question by the way! What has made you interested in sumo wrestlers?

    • Photo: John Gleeson

      John Gleeson answered on 18 Nov 2015:

      Andrew covered most of it so I’ll just add bits.

      Breakfast – It’s known that our metabolism (ability to breakdown and use food components) is most active in the morning and decreases during the day. So we should really have our largest meal during the morning not in the evening. Especially when in school, you have to get up super early and keep your brain involved all day then when you get home you’ve a big meal but you’re not doing as much as you were. So if you’re eating more in the evening when your metabolism is slower and not as active it’s more likely to be deposited as fat.

      Obesity and Cardiovascular – So the most fascinating piece of this puzzle is to do with inflammation. Obesity causes subtle low grade inflammation in fat cells which puts your body under increased stress to deal with. And that leads to increase blood pressure. And high blood pressure is not good at all!!! It increases risks of all the things Andrew said but also increased risks of diabetes. That’s one of the reasons I work on reducing blood pressure it’s so vital to good health!

Comments

  • Photo: Quentin and Mathilde

    Quentin and Mathilde commented on :

    Thanks for these answers @john end @andrew!
    Andrew, I wonder how proteins can be convert in sugar and fat ?
    I choose this subject because everybody try to get thinner, but we don’t think about how people get bigger ! So I took the sumo wrestlers because they are trying to be as big as possible, their diet is really interesting ! (and okay, they are funny 😉 )
    @John what is inflammation exactly ? and how can we reduce blood pressure, for example if I’m a Sumo wrestler, how can I reduce my blood pressure ?