Did you know that 30% of cancers are related to obesity? Join me in Episode #322 as I sit down with Harvard Professor and endocrinologist Dr Christos Mantzoros to discuss fatty liver disease, metabolic health, and hormones.
“I teach my students, if an angel would come to our world and make obesity disappear about 65% of endometrial cancers would disappear. About 30% of epithelial cancers would disappear… and what most people don’t realise is that a lot of neurocognitive decline – Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s – is related to obesity and metabolic syndrome. That’s why the rising prevalence of obesity leads to the rising prevalence of all these diseases.”
Christos S. Mantzoros, MD, DSc, PhD h.c. mult., is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and an Adjunct Professor at Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine. He has also served as a Professor of Environmental Health at the Harvard School of Public Health. He is the Chief of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at the Boston VA Healthcare System and the Director of the Human Nutrition Unit of the Division of Endocrinology Diabetes and Metabolism at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. His research has resulted in more than 800 publications in Medline, with more than 72,000 citations with a Hirsch Index H=121.
“If you are diagnosed today with type 2 diabetes, you need to be tested for fatty liver disease… and if I was diagnosing someone with type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease, I would bet this person has a certain degree of cardiovascular disease.”
In this episode, you’ll learn about why so many people are obese and whether you can be overweight and healthy. Dr Mantzoroz breaks down budget-friendly ways to evaluate your metabolic health, explains how hormones affect your weight, and offers his insight on how to treat obesity. Overall, this episode is a masterclass in metabolic health and fatty liver disease.
Specifically, we discuss:
- Introduction to The Latest Obesity Research Findings (00:00)
- The Evolving Understanding of Obesity Science (03:49)
- Uncovering New Fat Storage Mechanisms (10:57)
- Modern Techniques for Accurate Body Fat Measurement (15:02)
- Why Maintaining Weight Loss Is So Challenging (20:01)
- Evolutionary Insights into Human Fat Storage (25:12)
- How Leptin Regulates Energy Balance and Health (29:17)
- New Approaches to Break Through Weight Set Points (39:27)
- Environment’s Role in Weight Gain Beyond Diet (45:49)
- Decoding the Genetics of Fat Storage and Metabolism (52:59)
- Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Explained (55:40)
- Evidence-Based Nutrition for Optimal Liver Health (01:05:25)
- Promising Advances in Non-Invasive Liver Tests (01:10:49)
- Oestrogen’s Impact on Metabolism (01:20:14)
- The Link Between Liver Fat and Insulin Resistance (01:22:04)
- Addressing America’s Growing Metabolic Health Crisis (01:26:11)
- Outro (01:27:11)
It’s an honour to have Dr Mantzoroz on the show this week, and I’m incredibly grateful for his insight into a topic affecting so many people worldwide. I hope this episode helps you better understand fatty liver disease and metabolic health and encourages you to investigate your health further.
Connect with Christos Mantzoros, MD DSc PhD h.c. mult. on LinkedIn, and discover his work here.
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More about Christos Mantzoros, MD DSc PhD
Christos S. Mantzoros, MD, DSc, PhD h.c. mult., is a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and has also served as a Professor at the Harvard School of Public Health. He currently serves as the Chief of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at the Boston VA Healthcare System and the Director of the Human Nutrition Unit of the Division of Endocrinology Diabetes and Metabolism at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Dr. Mantzoros is a leader in biomedical education and has mentored more than 180 young scientists who currently hold key positions in clinical medicine, academia, industry as well as governmental agencies and nongovernmental organizations. He has served as a Board Member of Academic Institutions, as an advisor or head of the Scientific Advisor Board of non for profit entities as well as governmental and non-governmental orgnaizations. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Metabolism and is on the editorial board of several scientific journals worldwide. Dr. Mantzoros has been the editor of two books (one on “Diabetes and Obesity” and one on “Nutrition and Metabolism” with more than two editions each). His research has resulted in more than 1100 publications with more than 168,000 citations with a Hirsch Index H=158.
For his research discoveries and public health service Dr. Mantzoros has received four honorary PhDs, the International Hellenic University has named their nutrition laboratories after his name and several Universities worldwide have awarded Dr. Mantzoros honorary Professorships and visiting Professorships. He has also given several Named and Endowed Lectures worldwide.
Dr. Mantzoros has been elected a member of ASCI and a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinology. He has been given several awards including but not limited to awards by: the American Association of Clinical Endocrinology (Frontiers in Science Award), the American Diabetes Association (Novartis Award in Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases), the North American Association for the Study of Obesity / the Obesity Society (Lilly Award), the American Society for Nutrition (Mead Johnson Award), the HypoCCS award in Paris, France, the Humboldt Foundation of Germany (the Wilhelm Friedrich Bessel Award), by the American Federation of Medical Research (the Outstanding Investigator Award), by the American Physiological Society (FASEB, the Berson Award Lecture), by the New England Hellenic Medical and Dental Association (Hygeia award) etc. He has also received the BIDMC, Harvard Medical School, award for excellence in Mentoring.
Most recently, he has received for his lifetime achievements the 2017 Obesity Society TOPS Award, the 2018 Endocrine Society Outstanding Clinical Investigator Award, the 2018 European Society of Endocrinology Geoffrey Harris Prize, and the 2018 American Society of Nutrition’s Robert H. Herman Award, the 2020 American Society of Nutrition’s E. V. McCollum Award, the 2020 Gerald Reaven Distinguished Leader in Insulin Resistance Award by the World Congress on Insulin Resistance, Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease,the 2021 Greek College of Internal Medicine Hippocrates award and the 2022 Korean Society of Nutrition Award co-administered with the American Society for Nutrition, and next year he will be receiving the 2025 Endocrine Society Outstanding Scholarly Physician Award.
