Much of the metabolism literature available today focuses on weight loss, physical fitness, and diet. These texts talk about ways to boost metabolism, and how some people possess either a “slow” or “fast” metabolism which then relates to their ability to process food and avoid weight gain. These books can provide dieticians, fitness instructors, and nutritionists with some insights, but they only scratch the surface of metabolism’s exceptionally large role in the entirety of human health.
Many books about metabolism could benefit from adding scientific examples and correlations into the text, to illustrate the underlying processes and to explain the human body as an intricate biochemical machine.
Diving deeper into metabolic processes, disease, and homeostasis is a two-volume series from Dr. Brian Fertig titled “Metabolism & Medicine.” This series is the culmination of more than 10 years of indefatigable commitment from Dr. Fertig who develops a powerful and novel basis for understanding disease from the perspective of metabolism.
Metabolism and Disease
Dr. Fertig’s books look at human health and disease through a metabolism perspective. It correlates metabolic processes, such as food into energy, other biochemical cellular interactions, and the effects of stress on energy production to the prevalence of diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s. Dr. Fertig holds more than 30 years of experience in endocrinology, metabolism, and diabetes, through his work as an associate professor, his commitment to teaching and his successful private practice. Through his work he developed a motivation to improve the understanding of how metabolic processes relate to diseases, their prediction, prevention and treatment.
The book differs considerably from other books about metabolism because it involves multiple scientific disciplines, including biophysics, biochemistry, pharmacology, quantum biology, and others. It relates metabolic dysfunction to many health conditions, not just obesity of low energy utilization. It’s a “magnus opus” from Dr. Fertig, a work of more than 10 years in the making that presents healthcare practitioners with a new way of looking at metabolism and offering recommendations for patients who are out of homeostasis on multiple biological fronts.
Throughout the text Dr. Fertig uses simple terminology to convey complex interactions and processes. He avoids overwhelming the reader, and instead provides them with a science-based text that gives them context into the human body’s mechanics and then relates them to health and disease states. It’s not a textbook because it’s not structured as a group of facts for memorizing on a test. Instead, it has central messages, filled with conceptual insights and correlations intended to improve medical practices and care.
He begins the reader on this journey by discussing core physics concepts such as energy, entropy, and thermodynamics. This provides the basis for understanding biological systems through the lens of physics, and ways, ultimately, dysfunction in metabolism can lead to multiple problems. He explains how these issues happen at the mitochondrial level, which then influences the body’s performance capabilities and its susceptibility to chronic diseases. The metabolism literature from Dr. Fertig illustrate positive feedback loops within the body driven by dysfunctional mitochondria (the cell’s powerplants), redox and inflammatory stress, insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia, mediated by poor diet and other behavioral stressors that interrupt the metabolic machine.
Buying the Two-Volume Series
The book is an ideal guide for healthcare practitioners, biomedical researchers, medical students, dieticians, fitness enthusiasts and instructors, nutritionists, and other groups that want to deepen their understanding of metabolism’s impacts. Click this link to buy “Metabolism & Medicine” and learn how the human body’s metabolism directly relates to diseases and optimal human health.