Scratchings-and-Sniffings

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More on Allie and Weight Loss Posted: 05 Nov 2009 06:45 AM PST One of Allie's human friends read the post we did this week and sent me a couple of questions. She wanted to know what it was about the weight loss that helped with Allie's arthritis. And she wanted to know whether Allie could keep the weight off just by exercise alone. On the first question, it is well documented that weight loss has a positive impact on the severity of arthritis. The first reason is simply one of force. Carrying extra weight puts more force on the arthritic joint with each weight bearing step. More force leads to more wear and tear on that joint and a more rapid progression of the degenerative process. More force equals more pain in an existing case of arthritis, too. People with arthritis that lose weight report less pain after weight loss and thermal imaging in arthritic dogs that lose weight shows less heat and inflammation in affected joints. These dogs are also capable of exerting more force on affected joints after weight loss. We take both results as indicating less pain even though dogs can't tell us they hurt less.    If an obese dog experiences greater pain on movement they are less likely to exercise and more likely to become even more obese. It becomes a vicious cycle leading to more degenerative changes in the affected joint.   The other interesting development is the conclusion that obesity itself leads to higher levels of inflammation. We did a post on this not long ago.   Obese individuals have higher levels of circulating markers of inflammation. It appears that body fat is the source of these inflammatory markers and that many diseases may be the result of chronic inflammation ultimately traced to obesity. It is known that obese individuals not only have a higher incidence of knee pain associated with arthritis but also a higher incidence of pain associated with the joints of the hand. Since hand joint arthritis is not associated with the forces of weight bearing, the thought is that some form of systemic inflammation is responsible.    So Allie benefits in two ways: By losing 14% of her body weight she is exerting less force on her painful joints and experiencing less pain. As a result she is able to run with Bob again. The ability to exercise helps her lose weight and keep it off and she has less body fat and less total inflammation.     As to whether she could lose weight with exercise alone, recent research would say no. The current thinking is that the combination of diet and exercise is the key to weight loss. That is why it is so important for overweight arthritic dogs to lose weight. Less pain equals the ability to exercise.   We did a post on this, too and there is a good article in the NY Times just this week that reinforces the notion that a diet change is needed.    According to this article, the idea of an "after burn" where you continue to burn fat after exercising, is not the case. It's a calorie in calorie out story and if you replace the calories you burned through greater exercise by post exercise eating you don't lose an ounce.   Exercise has lots of benefits, though. Arthritis pain tends to wane with exercise and is recommended for arthritis sufferers. Exercise improves weight loss when combined with dietary intervention and consistent exercise tends to reset metabolic energy expenditure making it easier to keep the weight off after you've lost it.    And exercise improves mood. Just ask Allie. There is nothing she'd rather do that hit the trail with Bob or Sue. And they feel the same way.

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