Our Daily Bread, Our Daily Calories

Adam, Veronika

From very early times one of Mankind's greatest problems has been the provision of food of sufficient quantity and quality. Now this has become the problem of billions. Alongside this is the contemporary problem of overeating that is now causing the poor health and even death of many people. While we have gradually developed mechanisms to resolve the problems of starvation, this is not true for overeating, largely because this is a relatively recent phenomena. Metabolism is the sum of the biological processes through which aliments entering or stored in the organism are broken down, produce energy or form new molecules. A hormone called insulin is the most important regulator of the metabolic process, providing the optimal sugar level in the blood.
In a normal case the amount of food taken into the body is the same as the body utilises. Permanently increased energy intake leads to adiposity, which, above a certain level, considerably increases the likelihood of certain illnesses: these are the so-called 'first world' conditions, of which diabetes type 2 is the most important. Insufficient food intake leads to a state of starvation, although there are numerous bio-chemical mechanisms to ensure that a man can stay alive for weeks without any food whatsoever.
Obesity is one of the greatest problems of modern civilisation. Fighting obesity is possible on two fronts: decreasing food intake or increasing food utilisation. The decrease of food intake through diet is successful in the long term only if it is accompanied with complex changes in our food intake and our way of life. Our optimal weight can be best achieved with a balanced diet and regular exercise.

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