The origin of obesity. Adaptogens to the rescue.

It is known that 40% of the world population suffers from being overweight. This is 1.9 billion people or what is equal to the sum of the population of Brazil, China, and the United States. There is an infinite number of diets that have been created to solve this problem and all of them follow the same pattern that is: reducing food without concerning too much on the natural mechanisms that allow weight regulation in the human body. This causes that about 65% of people who finish a diet, regain back their initial weight or even get over it in a short period. This is known as the rebound effect.

In our previous article, we saw how leptin, a hormone produced by adipose tissue cells, travels carried by the blood and is detected by our brain serving as an indicator in the regulation of body weight. A lower leptin concentration in the blood tells the brain to store more fat in the form of adipose tissue and conversely, a higher concentration of leptin will stop fat production.

With age, the sensitivity of our brain to leptin decreases and we need higher concentrations of this hormone so that it can be detected. Those higher levels of leptin can only be produced by a greater amount of adipose tissue and that is why we gain weight more easily as we get older.

Achieving better control of our weight is only possible if we fight the three factors that hinder the sensitivity of our brain to leptin. These are the decrease of oxygen levels that reach our tissues, the conversion of the cellular medium into acid instead of alkaline and finally the greater concentration of free radicals in that cellular medium.

There are drugs in traditional medicine to fight these factors, but due to their frequent side effects, they mostly require the prescription of a doctor. Fortunately, we find plants in nature that allow us to achieve these same results and they are called adaptogens.

These plants have the capacity to adapt to our body's needs causing different beneficial effects for our health. They give the impression of being intelligent substances that according to the person's needs, allow him to reach a high level of physical and mental balance. What characteristics should a plant have to be classified as an adaptogen?

• It must have an immunomodulatory effect, increasing the body's defense capacity.
• It should not cause side effects
• Can not cause addiction
• It must help the body to achieve an optimal balance of internal energies
• It must have a bi-directional operation, that is, it must adapt to the specific needs of the person with a regulatory effect. For example, if you have high blood pressure an adaptogen should help lower it, but if you have low blood pressure it should help raising it

Adaptogens help fight those factors that make it difficult for leptin to be detected by our brain and therefore have a positive effect on our body's weight management. They are the ideal complement to any diet since among its characteristics are:

• They contribute eliminating the free radicals produced by the metabolism due to its great antioxidant effect
• They help the transport of oxygen to the cells allowing to use it more efficiently
• They have anabolic effects benefiting the formation of muscular tissue
• They improve the regulation of biological rhythms
• They fight the effects caused by stress

The extraordinary properties of these plants, capable of adapting to the specific needs of each organism, have caused skepticism among academics. However, studies have now been carried out to show that its medicinal properties are well-founded.

Among a large number of healing plants known today, only a very small number are considered adaptogens. In our next article, we will be treating the benefits of a plant considered the adaptogen par excellence: Ganoderma Lucidum, also known as reishi.