The Beautiful Theory That Didn’t Pan Out

My grad school research focused on an obscure biological pathway activated by exercise called the melanocortin system. This system promised to enhance lifespan and overall health by influencing multiple processes in the body—especially inflammation.

Higher levels of systemic inflammation are a driving force behind many of the most common chronic diseases. We also know that people who exercise consistently tend to have lower levels of this low-grade inflammation.

So the connection between the melanocortin system, exercise, and suppressed inflammation offered an elegant explanation for several benefits of fitness that we don’t fully understand.

It helped explain why exercisers often show lower inflammatory markers and how physical activity influences the central nervous system to drive favorable adaptations throughout the body.

The Study

My research compared four groups:

• Lean–fit

• Overweight–fit

• Lean–sedentary

• Overweight–sedentary

We measured systemic inflammation and quantified melanocortin receptor expression on white blood cells.

After recruiting and treadmill testing more than 80 participants and carefully analyzing their blood samples, the results were… underwhelming.

Despite a beautiful mechanism and a plausible model, the findings were nothing special.

The Bigger Problem in Health and Fitness

The point of my story isn't to highlight this magic way to enhance your body but to highlight a problem in the world of health and fitness.

The issue is that an infinite number of mechanistic models explain the working parts of a complex system like the human body.  This becomes a problem when we are constantly bombarded by these mechanisms by very smart people in the news, on social media, and in various podcasts.

Yet, as the great Richard Feynman said,

“It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't matter how smart you are. If it doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong.”

However, in this case, the mechanisms are usually not wrong. 

Science often confirms that they are real processes that occur in our body, such as, in my case, the suppression of inflammation by the melanocortin system and how exercise activates this pathway.

It's just that these mechanistic ideas zoom in on one of about one million other things that happen in our bodies simultaneously.  

The problem is that these mechanisms lead to a constant barrage of videos titled "This one thing..." or "Don't ever do this..." which creates a lot of confusion and anxiety among us people who want to live better lives. 

I don’t want you to ignore these ideas, but things into perspective before gaslighting yourself into adopting some strange behaviors or allowing yourself to enjoy life to the fullest.

Sophisticated mechanistic models also require empirical studies that examine differences in large groups before being touted as a way to hack your physiology.