Metabolic Strategies in Healthcare: A New Era

Abstract

Modern healthcare systems are founded on a disease-centric paradigm, which has conferred many notable successes against infectious disorders in the past. However, today’s leading causes of death are dominated by non-infectious “lifestyle” disorders, broadly represented by the metabolic syndrome, atherosclerosis, cancer, and neurodegeneration. Our disease-centric paradigm regards these disorders as distinct disease processes, caused and driven by disease targets that must be suppressed or eliminated to clear the disease. By contrast, a health-centric paradigm recognizes the lifestyle disorders as a series of hormonal and metabolic responses to a singular, lifestyle-induced disease of mitochondria dysfunction, a disease target that must be restored to improve health, which may be defined as optimized mitochondria function. Seen from a health-centric perspective, most drugs target a response rather than the disease, whereas metabolic strategies, such as fasting and carbohydrate-restricted diets, aim to restore mitochondria function, mitigating the impetus that underlies and drives the lifestyle disorders. Substantial human evidence indicates either strategy can effectively mitigate the metabolic syndrome. Preliminary evidence also indicates potential benefits in atherosclerosis, cancer, and neurodegeneration. Given the existing evidence, integrating metabolic strategies into modern healthcare systems should be identified as a global health priority.

Influence of obesity on biological age in patients with arterial hypertension

“…New therapeutic possibilities have emerged to influence the underlying pathological mechanisms of obesity. The similarity of the pathological processes between obesity and ageing: in cellularity, insulin sensitivity, secretory profiles, and the inflammatory state of adipose tissue [38,39], allows us to hope for the success of similar interventions to eliminate dysfunctions associated with obesity and age-related pathology.…”

Development and validation of a copper-related gene prognostic signature in hepatocellular carcinoma

“…Another model proposed by Désert et al classified HCC as “ECM‐type,” “STEM‐type,” “PV‐type” and “PP‐type.” Among them, “PP-type” characterized by high lipid and bile salt metabolism has displayed low proliferation and favorable prognosis ( Ng et al, 2017 ). Given that liver is the primary handler of amino acid and lipid metabolism, we supposed that maintenance of high metabolic activity in the low-risk group conferred high chances of preserving normal liver phenotype, which may lead to less aggressive clinical and biological behaviors ( Phillips, 2022 ).…”

Time-Restricted Ketogenic Diet in Huntington's Disease: A Case Study

“…The modified ketogenic diet used in this study additionally emphasized flexibility, palatability, and affordability whist also providing a rich variety of cuisine options, significantly alleviating the culinary and social restrictions that impede long-term success with older, conventional ketogenic diets (Cervenka et al, 2016). On a therapeutic level, since the essential aim of both fasting and ketogenic diets is to generate a series of metabolic alterations aimed at maximizing cell and mitochondria energy metabolism (Phillips, 2022), fasting probably augments the beneficial metabolic alterations induced by the ketogenic diet and vice versa.…”

“…Metabolic strategies, such as fasting and ketogenic diets, enhance brain and muscle metabolism and mitochondria function (Phillips, 2022), which could theoretically mitigate the clinical symptoms of HD. Fasting is a voluntary abstinence from food and drink that permits water, calorie-free fluids, or limited calorie-restricted meals for specified periods of time (typically, at least 12 h in humans) (Longo et al, 2021).…”