Читать книгу Clinical Obesity in Adults and Children - Группа авторов - Страница 115

The evidence thus suggests that there is nothing peculiar nor unique in the biological responses of humans to varying diet composition. Like other species, from insects to primates, macronutrients exert strong control over human ingestive behavior, with specific appetites interacting to select an intake target. The selected intake target, comprising ~15% of energy from protein, falls midway within the range recorded for other species of living apes, which provides reason to suspect that it is a natural part of human biology. When eating diets with macronutrient ratios that prevent the target ratio from being eaten humans, like many other species, prioritize meeting the regulatory target for protein, whether this involves over‐eating fats and carbohydrates (on protein‐dilute diets) or under‐eating fats and carbohydrates (on high‐protein diets).

A strong benefit of this model, which underpins the protein leverage hypothesis of obesity, is that it uses human biology as a guide to identifying the most important ecological questions around the global obesity epidemic. Importantly, there already are public health frameworks in place with which to integrate the protein leverage model and help answer those questions to illuminate the nutritional ecology of human obesity.