Constipation
How does constipation affect obesity?
A rough night that comes with bad dreams and discomfort is often the result of consuming a heavy meal before going to sleep (1) and much health-oriented information available in the public sphere tells you that if you must eat before you sleep, then it should be nothing but a piece of fruit. To understand how constipation has the potential to affect the body-weight of a person, the various stages of the digestive system need to be looked at in detail. But to begin, a couple of myths regarding constipation will be debunked.
The myth of the dietary fiber relationship
The first, is that constipation is caused by a lack of dietary fiber. (2) The actual truth is that when compared with other goods such as fruit, bread, water, fat and sugar, fiber does not show at all that it causes constipation.
The myth about cooking
Another common piece of misinformation is that cooking your food will prevent constipation. In fact, cooking is a completely unnatural process and even though we prefer our food cooked, by cooking food for consumption a host of new substances are formed from the chemical synthesis going on while the food is heated. (3) The truth is that cooking your food creates many different chemical substances in your meal, the most significant of which for this article are beta-carbolines. (4) This protein contains an opioid, which makes you drowsy and tired and as a consequence of this slows down your bowels so that constipation is the result. This explains why after a good meal, we feel that taking a nap is a good idea.
The truth about and the purpose of dairy
The third myth related to obesity and constipation is that dairy products are good for human health. The truth is that the milk of every animal contains proteins such as casein, lactalbumin, beta-lactaglobulin and lactoferrin. These proteins act as casings for opioid peptides. The purpose of the opioids in the milk of mammals is directly related to the development of the newborn mammal, which feeds on its mother’s milk exclusively. The consumption of the milk promotes sleep, (5) which promotes body-mass growth. The opioid peptides in the milk also foster the slowing down of bowels, which promotes proper hardened stool formation, rather than liquid excrement. In a clinical study conducted on children with chronic constipation, it was shown that this is exactly the case, milk from cows cannot be used to cure constipation, in fact, only milk from plants (soy, almond, etc.) can be used to do this. (6)
Opioid peptide-enclosing proteins
A number of special proteins are found in wheat and dairy products, such as casein, lactalbumin, beta-lactaglobulin and lactoferrin. While newborn mammals easily absorb these molecules into their bloodstream, a large part of these substances remains in the digestive tracts of adults, which has the effect of sedating the bowels and promoting constipation. Not only this, these proteins, particularly casein, has a negative effect on other parts of the body. (7)
In the case of plants, many that we grow for consumption, especially wheat, contain slightly toxic or anesthetic substances (particularly L-tryptophan, a natural sedative) which are a naturally evolved self-defense mechanism to prevent herbivorous mammals from consuming too much of the plant at a time. (8) These anesthetic substances are the protein known as gluten. The digestive process sets the gluten free. The opioid peptides in wheat products (bread, pasta, etc.) become damaged in the preparation process making it difficult, if not impossible, for your body’s enzymes to decompose, in effect causing constipation.
A multitude of reactions
Ultimately, how your body responds to the consumption of opioid peptides is dependent completely on the way your receptors respond. Some people suffer cramps. This is when the bowels receive both stimulating and anesthetizing signals (9) (quite likely if products such as grains and beans are consumed together). If you’ve ever had stomach cramps after consuming a pie that contained beans or chick-peas, you can now appreciate the reasons why.
The link to obesity
It makes complete sense that constipation would make you gain weight and an explanation of how the digestive system works when it is constipated will make this clear. Protein, sugars, fat and cholesterol molecules become extremely difficult to digest completely when they are damaged in anyway. Since we cook most of our food, creating beta-carbolines from raw protein it’s not hard to see how we damage the opioid peptides. (10) Consuming prepared foods causes your intestines to be encrusted with a layer of completely indigestible food particles. People who also consume a lot of dairy products are putting indigestible proteins into their bodies such as lactalbumin, beta-lactaglobulin and lactoferrin, all three of which are virtually undigestible by adult bodies as the enzyme newborns use to digest these is no longer produced after a certain age. (11) Just as with the particles left after cooking, the dairy products also leave particles along your digestive tract and bowels.
Obesity and constipation: the direct links are two-fold
The link to obesity then is two-fold. The opioid peptides promote drowsiness and slow down your bowels; which promotes inactivity after consuming a large meal as well as constipation with slowed down bowels. The second link to obesity is through the indigestible food stuff left along the bowels: these continue releasing nutrients into your bloodstream long after the digestion process should have shut down completely. If you follow regular sleeping patterns, (12) body-fat is usually transformed into available energy between 1-3 a.m., due to a growth-hormone that is secreted into the body. (13) On the other hand, when your bowels are continually releasing nutrients into your bloodstream, this process does not begin correctly and much less body-fat ends up being transformed into energy.
If, on the other hand, your bowels are clean before you go to sleep, it’s been shown that you will be burning extra body-fat for about 2 hours per night while you are asleep. That explains why it’s a good idea to eat nothing but fruit before you sleep. Fruit contains fructose, a high-energy sugar, which promotes high energy metabolism just after you fall asleep. This promotes the secretion of the growth hormone and conversion of body-fat into energy, thus reducing your chances of becoming obese.
So do yourself a favor; implement a change that can have immediate positive effects on your lifestyle and health. Apart from completely changing your diet and sleep patterns, (14) you can consume a piece of fruit before going to sleep and resist the urge to make a full meal.
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1. “For example, eating particular types of food at inappropriate times may be a factor in gastrointestinal complaints.” Altered sleep–wake cycles and food intake: The Ramadan model, Thomas Reilly, a, and Jim Waterhouse, Physiology & Behavior, Volume 90, Issues 2-3, 28 February 2007, Pages 219-228
2. “Eighty percent of patients with slow transit and 63% of patients with a disorder of defecation did not respond to dietary fiber treatment.” Clinical response to dietary fiber treatment of chronic constipation. Voderholzer WA, Schatke W, Mühldorfer BE, Klauser AG, Birkner B, Müller-Lissner SA. Am J Gastroenterol. 1997 Jan;92(1):95-8.
3. Effect of cooking methods on the formation of heterocyclic aromatic amines in chicken and duck breast, G.Z. Liaoa, G.Y. Wangb, X.L. Xuc and G.H. Zhouc, Meat Science, Volume 85, Issue 1, May 2010, Pages 149-154
4. ibid.
5. NALOXONE, A SPECIFIC OPIOID ANTAGONIST, REVERSES CHRONIC IDIOPATHIC CONSTIPATION, Mary-Jeanne Kreek , Elliot F. Hahn , Robert A. Schaefer, Jack Fishman, The Lancet, Volume 321, Issue 8319, Pages 261 - 262, 5 February 1983
6. Intolerance of cow's milk and chronic constipation in children, IACONO G.; CAVATAIO F.; MONTALTO G. ; FLORENA A.; TUMMINELLO M.; SORESI M.; NOTARBARTOLO A.; CARROCCIO A, The New England journal of medicine, 1998, vol. 339, no16, pp. 1100-1104
7. Effect of indigestible residue from foodstuffs on trypsin and pancreatic α-amylase activity in vitro, Dulce Moron, Carmelo Melito, Juscelino Tovar, Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, Volume 47, Issue 2, pages 171–179, 1989
8. Effects of L-tryptophan (a natural sedative) on human sleep, Wyatt RJ, Engelman K, Kupfer DJ, Fram DH, Sjoerdsma A, Snyder F. (1970 Oct 24). .Lancet 1970 Oct 24,2 (7678): 842–6
9. METHOD AND COMPOSITION FOR TREATING IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME USING LOW DOSES OF OPIOID RECEPTOR ANTAGONISTS, Inventors: Stanley M. Crain, Leonia, NJ (US); Ke-fei Shen, Flushing; Gerald M. Fleischner, Chappaqua, both of NY (U5), USPTO 6,194,382 B1, February 27, 2001
10. Coletti-Previero, M.A. et al, beta-Carboline and diazepam effect on the degradation of enkephalin by the human blood aminopeptidase. Biosci. Rep. 1983 / 3 (1) / 87-92.
11. Buts, J.P. Bioactive factors in milk. (in french) Arch. Pediatr. 1998 / 5 (3) / 298-306. , Teschemacher ,H. et al, Milk protein-derived opioid receptor ligands. Biopolymers. 1997 / 43 (2) / 99-117. , Koldovsky, O., Search for the role of milk borne biologically active peptides for the suckling. J.Nutr. 1989 / 119 (11) / 1543-1551. , Teschemacher, H. et al, Chemical characterization and opiod activity of an exorphin isolated from in vivo digests of casein. FEBS Lett. 1986 / 196 (2) / 223-227. , Chang, K.-J. et al, Isolation of a specific mu-opiate receptor peptide, morphiceptin, from an enzymatic digest of milk proteins. J. Biol. Chem. 1985 / 260 (17) / pag. 9706-9712.
12. Meta-Analysis of Short Sleep Duration and Obesity in Children and Adults, Francesco P. Cappuccio, MD, FRCP, Frances M. Taggart, PhD, Ngianga-Bakwin Kandala, PhD, Andrew Currie, MB ChB, Ed Peile, FRCP, Saverio Stranges, MD, PhD, and Michelle A. Miller, PhD
13. Relationship between age, percentage body fat, fitness, and 24-hour growth hormone release in healthy young adults: effects of gender. A Weltman, J Y Weltman, M L Hartman, R D Abbott, A D Rogol, W S Evans and J D Veldhuis, The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, March 1, 1994 vol. 78 no. 3 543-548
14. “Dietary modification as protection against coronary heart disease and diet-related cancers has been recommended, yet the central nervous system (CNS)-neuroendocrine control of eating behavior and digestion is poorly understood. Maintenance of nutritional homeostasis (and therefore of an ideal body weight) requires a balance between appetite and satiety that currently appears to be related to CNS-peptide hormones stimulating feeding counteracted by the release of gut satiety peptide hormones. This review stresses the importance of the composition of Iu-minal nutrients on colonic motility and the release of peptide hormones; it also discusses the interaction of the CNS and environmental factors on colonic activity and the relationship to diet-related diseases.” GUT-CNS peptide hormones, digestive dysfunction, and colon cancer, P. Hilla; L. Garbaczewskib, Nutrition and Cancer, Volume 10, Issue 1 & 2, 1987, Pages 11 - 22