Claim: Hormones are the “true culprit” behind women’s weight gain
From how coffee helps you lose weight (complex) to how you need a protein shake to build muscle (it doesn’t), health myths are common online.
A Facebook post on February 4th has increased the turmoil by video promoting the idea that hormones are the main driver of weight gain in women.
“Most women are told to exercise to lose weight,” the post reads. “This is often bad advice. Exercise plays only a small percentage of our daily calorie burning. Hormones are the real cause behind weight gain.”
The post claims that “most women are constantly fighting hormones,” causing “metabolism to stop.” This video has been watched over 600,000 times in two months.
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However, the central claim of the post that hormones are the “true culprit” behind weight gain is not true. Although multiple factors can contribute to weight gain and there is ongoing debate about the role that hormones play, experts agree that lifestyle is an important factor.
USA TODAY contacted the Facebook user who shared the comment claim.
Diet, exercise of major contributors to weight
According to Susan Davis, a professor of chronic illness and aging at Monash University in Australia, it is incorrect to call hormones the “real cause” behind women’s weight gain.
If so, Davis said, “Everyone will be fat.” Instead, she said diet was the main cause.
According to the National Institutes of Health, people gain weight when they consume more calories than they burn, and this imbalance is “the number one cause of weight gain.”
Davis added that dieting is an important part of weight loss, as exercise alone does not always burn calories at the rate that some people expect.
“A 20-minute exercise is a glass of orange juice, and a 3-hour exercise is a Big Mac,” Davis said. “And most people who eat Big Macs don’t go out and do three hours of continuous exercise to follow.”
It does not mean that exercise is ineffective.
According to the Department of Health and Human Services, physical activity is “one of the most important things” a person can do to improve their health. Regular physical activity is also associated with weight gain and weight loss, especially when combined with reduced caloric intake.
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Davis recommends that anyone trying to lose weight lose weight slowly. For example, she said she could think of one thing that someone would eat most days and separate it from the diet.
Hormones associated with weight gain
According to Johns Hopkins medicine, hormones can control everything from metabolism and energy levels to growth and development. Hormones affect weight, experts told USA TODAY, but as Post claims, hormones are not the main driver of weight gain.
Dr. Artur Viana, clinical director of the Yale University Metabolic Health and Weight Loss Program, said hormones are involved in obesity, but it is not the only cause. Robert Lustig, an emeritus professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, said today there is ongoing debate in the field of nutrition about how hormones contribute to obesity.
“Is obesity a problem of energy balance or is obesity a problem of energy storage?” He said. “If it’s an energy balance issue, it’s all about calories. If it’s about energy storage, the problem is: What’s storing it? And the answer Is one of two hormones, insulin and cortisol. ”
For example, when blood sugar levels rise, the hormone insulin rises, allowing sugar to leave the blood and enter cells where it is needed. However, when cells receive more sugar than they need, fat begins to accumulate. However, insulin itself does not cause weight gain.
Lustig’s recommendation for those who want to lose weight is simple: stop eating sugar.
“It’s a number of 1, 2, and 3,” he said. “Remove sugar, remove sugar, remove sugar.”
Hormones and female weight
Hormones fluctuate regularly in women, and the fluctuations can cause a variety of symptoms, so Davis says hormones are involved when other health problems occur, sometimes without justification. He said he often does.
Some hormone-related disorders can cause weight changes. According to the Mayo Clinic, for example, hyperthyroidism occurs when the thyroid gland overproduces the hormone thyroxine. It can lead to weight loss or gain.
However, it does not establish hormones as a driving force for all weight gains.
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Pregnant women are also partly due to the release of hormones that promote fat accumulation, according to Davis. However, she said that pregnancy is not a common condition for women, so the “rich hormonal environment” of pregnancy is not associated with all weight gain.
Our rating: False
Based on our research, we misassess the claim that hormones are the “real cause” behind women’s weight gain. Certain hormonal-related conditions can affect a woman’s weight, but those conditions are not the cause of weight gain in all women. While the role of hormones in obesity continues to be debated, experts agree that lifestyle, especially diet, is a major factor affecting weight.
Our fact check source:
- USA TODAY, July 16, 2021, Will Coffee Help You Lose Weight? Will it hinder your growth?This is the truth behind the coffee myth
- USA TODAY, July 16, 2019, Crunch offers abdominal muscles and other fitness myths.
- Dr. Susan Davis, February 23, Zoom Interview with USA Today
- National Institutes of Health, accessed February 28, what causes obesity and overweight?
- Healthline, January 18, 10 Main Causes of Weight Gain and Obesity
- US Department of Health and Human Services, March 2, Access, Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd Edition
- Dr. Robert Lustig, March 7, Telephone Interview with USA Today
- Missouri Medicine, November / December 2020, Obesity and the Western Diet: How We Get Here
- Mayo Clinic, March 9th Access, Insulin and Weight Gain: Lose Weight
- Healthline, June 3, 2017, How Artificial Sweeteners Affect Blood Glucose and Insulin
- Dr. Artur Viana, March 7, Telephone Interview with USA TODAY
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, February 28 Access, Hormonal Disorders
- Johns Hopkins Medicine, February 28 Access, Hormones and Endocrine Systems
- Mayo Clinic, February 28 Access, Hyperthyroidism (Hyperthyroidism)
- Mayo Clinic, February 28 Access, Hypothyroidism (Hypothroidism)
- American Thyroid Association, February 28 Access, General Information / Press Room
- US Census Bureau, February 28 Access, US and World Population Clock
- Healthline, February 11, 2021, Metabolism Update Review: Advantages, Disadvantages, and Efficacy
- The Washington Post, August 5, 2019, What is the “Hormon Diet”? And can they really help you lose weight quickly?
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