Cause of Obesity- Maladaptation or addiction
What is the cause of obesity epidemic? For all life on Earth, food is not a choice. The hardest thing for the animal in the wilderness is to gain weight.
Milos Pokimica
Written By: Milos Pokimica
Medically Reviewed by: Dr. Xiùying Wáng, M.D.
Updated June 9, 2023What is the cause of obesity epidemic? Can the obesity epidemic be reversed if we understand the cause of obesity?
Obesity is a complex disease and it is a disease characterized by an excess of body fat. Obesity is more than just a cosmetic issue. It is a medical condition that raises the risk of developing other diseases and health issues, such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and certain cancers.
Some people struggle to lose weight for a variety of reasons but the main one is that our brain acts in an evolutionary protective manner. In other words, the cause of obesity is maladaptation to our current environment. Scarcity is the rule in nature and an overabundance of food never existed in our 50 million-long history.
When you go to the obesity clinic and ask what is the cause of obesity, and what you have to change in your life, you won’t receive a decisive answer. The reason is that conventional allopathic medicine works as a reductionist practice. The cause of obesity is maladaptation which is a decisive answer. But this answer requires a holistic approach and a reductionist approach is what you get in hospitals. Holistic medicine does not have a patent or operation pending so there is no profit to pay for someone’s engagements. That is a reason why they don’t tell you the whole truth about the cause of obesity epidemic. Prescription medications and weight-loss procedures are additional options for treating obesity that make a lot of money besides supplements and other programs but all of them remember of they do not treat the root cause of the obesity epidemic. You can lose weight bat the condition that made you gain weight is still there as an evolutionary protective mechanism and it is very little we can do about it.

The cause of obesity is embedded into our genome and it is embedded into the genome of every species on this planet. All of the species on Earth are going to become obese if there is an abundance of food not just our pets. Animals as well as humans eat as much as they can every time they can. We can start to explain the cause of obesity in a scientific manner. We can start to look into genomes a do a line of studies, we can start to experiment with different hormones, and different food types, then we can do a line of studies involving neurochemicals and brain signaling. In this way, maybe studies will be able to give us some magic injection or pill to deal with this condition but the cause of obesity remains a complex mechanism rooted in maladaptation.
The majority of people think about weight loss because of the sex appeal. Health considerations are not always the primary reason for dieting. However, in cases of morbid obesity when the doctor tells patients to lose weight or die, health considerations come into play patients will try to lose weight. Most of the entire population will in their lifetimes at some point be on a diet for one reason or the other. In most cases, dieting would not give any long-term and lasting results.
But why? What is the cause of obesity? Let’s look into it in more detail.
An evolutionary adaptation is any heritable phenotypic character whose frequency of appearance in a population is the result of increased reproductive success. Adaptation is the development that the organism goes through in order to become accustomed to an environment. It is linked to evolution because it is a long process. One that occurs over many generations. Genetic change is what occurs.
Habitats do often change. Consequently, the process of adaptation is never finally complete. With time, it may result that the habitat changes to some extent and that species adapt to fit its surroundings better and better.
It may also happen that the environment changes very little and that species do not need to adapt at all. Examples of this can be seen in so-called living fossils like jellyfish that evolved 550 million years ago. Also, variations in the habitat may happen almost immediately, resulting in species growing less and less well-adapted and eventually going extinct.
What does evolutionary adaptation have to do with our diet and why is this important?
We have to understand how abrupt shifts in our environment caused by technological progress and our modern way of living can affect our biology that is not adapted to it and how it might affect our health. Another solution would be to act impulsively, emotionally, and instinctively like most other animals. That is precisely what we can see when we visit hospitals and give most of our income on the good service of modern medicine.
Animals eat impulsively because they are conditioned to do it for survival. For all life on the planet Earth, food is not a choice. The hardest thing for an animal in the wilderness is to gain weight. The hardest thing for us is to lose it.
And this is only because of technological progress in the last couple of centuries. That progress has enabled our current generation to eat as much as we want and whenever we want. We have a shift in our understanding of food and we have started to treat food as a source of gratification. The problem is that If we do start to treat food as a source of gratification and make dietary choices that are based on feelings and satisfaction, like it or not it will have health consequences.
For most of our evolution, we were slim in a state of constant hunger and constant physical activity, naked, and eating mostly vegan food.
The only reasonable assumption is that hominins eat like any other animal. This means only in situations when they did find food. This was the case for all of our ancestor species and that means the time period of 50 million years. Hunger like exercise is something that our physiology is adapted to and expects it. We will not die if we don’t eat. Homo erectus did not have a fridge to go to in the middle of the night when he felt like eating. Hunger is a normal feeling for every animal. This includes humans as well. The feeling is so strong that has the ability to condition our behavior and override any other instinct. It has to be so that it would be able to force the animal to search for it or it will die. On the other side, a feeling of constant fullness is not natural.
Even when we are on a restrictive diet modern people will like to have a feeling of fullness. So here comes caffeine, hunger suppressors of different kinds, and so on. If we can just find a magical, all-you-can-eat, weight-loss diet. Evolutional conditioning is so strong that in many cases after dieting people can develop a fear of starvation and will be in a constant struggle not to overeat even if they are not hungry. We are surrounded by food everywhere and plus on top of that, we can eat sugar and fat in an isolated refined form that we were never able to find in nature giving ourselves something known as supernormal stimuli or in other words, food dopamine high.
On one side, there is starvation and on another unnatural release of dopamine triggered by unnatural food that we have never been exposed to in our evolution. This is what causes a binge eating disorder and obesity, 50 million years of scarcity, and starvation.
Where is the malfunction? The cause of obesity dilemma and epidemic remained shrouded in complexity and mystery. There was a range of clinical trials that have somewhat confirmed this and this is my personal opinion also that obesity conditions are `maladaptations’ of actual current modern lifestyle to our genome (Fernandez-Real & Ricart 1999). In other words, maladaptation is something that occurs in an abrupt shift of habitat that physiology is not adapted to cope with.
In the case of obesity, the standard regulatory system will tell the brain that we have fat deposits stored for an extended period and that we can endure little hunger. However, hominins could never become fat due to scarcity, so they never developed an adaptation to the abundance of food. Our mind still thinks that if we do not eat all that we can we will starve to death in the upcoming drought.
Even our concept of beauty changed. I do not mean what we were thinking is pretty in ancient Egypt or Persia. That is a form of modern agricultural civilization with societal structures. Before civilization and agriculture in the Paleo period and beyond, hunter-gathers idealized morbid obesity. We can see a physical example of this in morbid obesity Venus figurines that were found in different locations from the Paleo period.

Because there was never an abundance of food and for their entire life during the Paleo period and before and for our entire evolution there was scarcity, the concept of morbid obesity was nothing more than idolized fiction. A fairytale of life without starvation. We have to understand the difference between foraging and hunter-gathering and agriculture, and then agricultural societies and our modern industrial ones are significant. They are enormous regarding evolutional biology. It was all about survival.
The skinny, malnourished female was in danger if became pregnant. Living in nature might seem romantic today but for our ancestors, it was a constant nightmare with an average lifespan of 25 years. In Ice Age in Europe during winter (the last glacial period from 110,000 – 11,700 years ago), a malnourished pregnant woman would have many problems. Morbid obesity is a symbol of fertility or a symbol of successful pregnancy and a symbol of life itself. Our paleo grandparents did not understand the full range of functioning of biological principles, but they for sure understand the role of adipose tissue for survival. It was the way of life ever since our ancestors moved out of Africa and entered colder climates, and even in Africa actually, there was no overabundance of sources of food around also. In snow and ice and caves with constant hunger and other hominins around competing for food, it was the worst-case scenario. That is why we can see morbid obesity Venuses figurines.
After the Neolithic Revolution, it all shifted rapidly. There were the first larger cities and societal hierarchies. Also, the concept of fertility shifted everywhere. Goddesses became slimmer, stories grew into religion, and morphed into the culture.
Eating healthy still does not mean that we will override our hunger drive. There is no magic cure for survival signaling except for strong medications. Eating healthy can still make us obese. The healthy diet is just the one we had evolved and adapted to eating. That is it. It is not a restrictive diet.

It is not the tastiest diet also. In nature, there is scarcity, so taste exists as a reward, not as a common theme for every meal.
For every animal in existence in nature, hunger is the normal state of being. Alternatively, a constant struggle for food would be more precise. For every animal that lives on this planet, food obsession is a daytime job. Most of the time during their lives animals spend searching for food. There are no supermarkets and cans of ready-to-eat meals. It is a struggle. Moreover, that was a normal condition for humans even today. Well, at least the body physiology part.
Our desire and pleasure-seeking behavior are what make us sick. Evolution did not predict electricity and microchips and cars. We are maladapted to our habitat. We have underlined mechanisms that force us to act in an evolutionary protective manner such as overeating food. The not-so-unique obstacle now is that there is no scarcity anymore.
References:
Passages selected from a book: Pokimica, Milos. Go Vegan? Review of Science Part 1. Kindle ed., Amazon, 2018.
- Anderberg, Rozita H et al. “The Stomach-Derived Hormone Ghrelin Increases Impulsive Behavior.” Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology vol. 41,5 (2016): 1199-209. doi:10.1038/npp.2015.297
- Al Massadi, Omar et al. “Ghrelin and food reward.” Neuropharmacology vol. 148 (2019): 131-138. doi:10.1016/j.neuropharm.2019.01.001
- Johnson, Paul M, and Paul J Kenny. “Dopamine D2 receptors in addiction-like reward dysfunction and compulsive eating in obese rats.” Nature neuroscience vol. 13,5 (2010): 635-41. doi:10.1038/nn.2519
- Palmiter, Richard D. “Is dopamine a physiologically relevant mediator of feeding behavior?.” Trends in neurosciences vol. 30,8 (2007): 375-81. doi:10.1016/j.tins.2007.06.004
- Obradovic, Milan et al. “Leptin and Obesity: Role and Clinical Implication.” Frontiers in endocrinology vol. 12 585887. 18 May. 2021, doi:10.3389/fendo.2021.585887
- Crujeiras, Ana B et al. “Leptin resistance in obesity: An epigenetic landscape.” Life sciences vol. 140 (2015): 57-63. doi:10.1016/j.lfs.2015.05.003
- Peng, Jin et al. “Central and peripheral leptin resistance in obesity and improvements of exercise.” Hormones and behavior vol. 133 (2021): 105006. doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2021.105006
Related Posts
Do you have any questions about nutrition and health?
I would love to hear from you and answer them in my next post. I appreciate your input and opinion and I look forward to hearing from you soon. I also invite you to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest for more diet, nutrition, and health content. You can leave a comment there and connect with other health enthusiasts, share your tips and experiences, and get support and encouragement from our team and community.
I hope that this post was informative and enjoyable for you and that you are prepared to apply the insights you learned. If you found this post helpful, please share it with your friends and family who might also benefit from it. You never know who might need some guidance and support on their health journey.
– You Might Also Like –

Learn About Nutrition
Milos Pokimica is a doctor of natural medicine, clinical nutritionist, medical health and nutrition writer, and nutritional science advisor. Author of the book series Go Vegan? Review of Science, he also operates the natural health website GoVeganWay.com
Medical Disclaimer
GoVeganWay.com brings you reviews of the latest nutrition and health-related research. The information provided represents the personal opinion of the author and is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. The information provided is for informational purposes only and is not intended to serve as a substitute for the consultation, diagnosis, and/or medical treatment of a qualified physician or healthcare provider.NEVER DISREGARD PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL ADVICE OR DELAY SEEKING MEDICAL TREATMENT BECAUSE OF SOMETHING YOU HAVE READ ON OR ACCESSED THROUGH GoVeganWay.com
NEVER APPLY ANY LIFESTYLE CHANGES OR ANY CHANGES AT ALL AS A CONSEQUENCE OF SOMETHING YOU HAVE READ IN GoVeganWay.com BEFORE CONSULTING LICENCED MEDICAL PRACTITIONER.
In the event of a medical emergency, call a doctor or 911 immediately. GoVeganWay.com does not recommend or endorse any specific groups, organizations, tests, physicians, products, procedures, opinions, or other information that may be mentioned inside.
Editor Picks –
Milos Pokimica is a doctor of natural medicine, clinical nutritionist, medical health and nutrition writer, and nutritional science advisor. Author of the book series Go Vegan? Review of Science, he also operates the natural health website GoVeganWay.com
Latest Articles –
Plant Based News
-
5 Unexpected Ways A Plant-Based Diet Can Transform Your Life
on May 14, 2025
-
How To Use Mushrooms To Make A Nutritious ‘Chicken’ Salad
on May 14, 2025
-
Protein-Packed ‘Shepherdless’ Pie
on May 14, 2025
-
George Monbiot Debunks Animal Farming Reports Linked To McDonald’s And King Charles
on May 13, 2025
-
Cozy Up With This Vegan Chicken And Dumplings Recipe
on May 13, 2025
-
Caramelized Shallot And Wild Mushroom Pizza
on May 13, 2025
-
Vegan Nutella ‘Spotted In UK Supermarket’
on May 13, 2025
Top Health News — ScienceDaily
- ‘Sweet spot’ for focused ultrasound to provide essential tremor reliefon May 14, 2025
For millions of people around the world with essential tremor, everyday activities from eating and drinking to dressing and doing basic tasks can become impossible. This common neurological movement disorder causes uncontrollable shaking, most often in the hands, but it can also occur in the arms, legs, head, voice, or torso. Essential tremor impacts an estimated 1 percent of the worldwide population and around 5 percent of people over 60. Investigators have now identified a specific subregion […]
- Combining laboratory techniques yields wealth of information about deadly brain tumorson May 14, 2025
Clinicians have demonstrated that doctors can gain a wealth of knowledge about a patient’s cancer by using multiple laboratory techniques to study tumor tissue taken from needle biopsies of glioblastoma, a highly aggressive form of brain cancer.
- New generation of skin substitutes give hope to severe burns patientson May 14, 2025
Australian researchers have flagged some promising new approaches to treat severe burns that could save lives and dramatically improve patient recovery.
- Adult-onset type 1 diabetes increases risk of cardiovascular disease and deathon May 14, 2025
A new study shows that people who develop type 1 diabetes in adulthood have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and death, and that those diagnosed later in life do not have a better prognosis than those diagnosed earlier.
- The risk of death or complications from broken heart syndrome was high from 2016 to 2020on May 14, 2025
The risk of death or complications from the stress-related heart condition associated with stressful events, such as the death of a loved one — called Takotsubo cardiomyopathy or broken heart syndrome — was high and unchanged from 2016 to 2020, according to data from a national study that included nearly 200,000 U.S. adults.
- Got data? Breastfeeding device measures babies’ milk intake in real timeon May 14, 2025
New device can give peace of mind and reduce anxiety for breastfeeding moms. It uses bioimpedance, which is currently used to measure body fat, and streams clinical-grade data to a smartphone or tablet in real time. Developed by physicians and engineers, device was tested by new moms. Technology could particularly benefit fragile babies in the NICU, who have precise nutritional needs.
- Study sheds light on how autistic people communicateon May 14, 2025
There is no significant difference in the effectiveness of how autistic and non-autistic people communicate, according to a new study, challenging the stereotype that autistic people struggle to connect with others.
PubMed, #vegan-diet –
- Menu Dilemmas: An Integrated Assessment of the Nutritional Quality, Environmental Impact, and Cost of Vegan, Vegetarian, and Meat-Based Versions of Mealson May 14, 2025
Background/Objectives: Adopting sustainable dietary patterns is essential for addressing environmental sustainability and improving public health outcomes. However, food service providers and consumers often face challenges in making informed choices due to a lack of information on the environmental, nutritional, and cost implications of different meal options. The aim of this paper was to provide an integrated assessment of the nutritional quality, environmental impact and cost of vegan,…
- Effects of nutritional counseling on dietary patterns in patients with mild cognitive impairment: insights from the BrainFit-Nutrition studyon May 13, 2025
INTRODUCTION: This study examines the effects of a structured nutritional counseling intervention for individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) via synchronized online courses conducted bi-weekly over six months.
- Portfolio diet and LDL-C in a young, multiethnic cohort: cross-sectional analyses with cumulative exposure modelingon May 13, 2025
CONCLUSIONS: Among young adults, the PDS was inversely associated with LDL-C and several other established cardiovascular risk factors. Early adherence to the Portfolio Diet may limit lifetime exposure to LDL-C and could delay the age at which cardiovascular events begin.
- Scoring Adherence to Voluntary Restriction Diets (SAVoReD) in the ADAPT Studyon May 9, 2025
Voluntary adoption of popular food-group-restricting diets like Paleo and plant-based diets (PBDs) are often health-motivated. However, unlike the theoretical design of these diets, different levels of dietary adherence may result in different diet quality and bodyweight in real-world settings-a limitation to the efficacy of dietary interventions. Scoring Adherence to Voluntary Restriction Diets (SAVoReD) is a metric to quantify and compare adherence across food-group-restricting diets. We…
- Risk of hypothyroidism in meat-eaters, fish-eaters, and vegetarians: a population-based prospective studyon May 7, 2025
CONCLUSIONS: In the present study, we found a moderately higher risk of hypothyroidism among vegetarians, after controlling for BMI, a potential collider. This slightly higher risk of hypothyroidism among vegetarians requires further investigation, taking iodine status and thyroid hormone levels into account.
Random Posts –
Featured Posts –

Latest from PubMed, #plant-based diet –
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil Phenolic Compounds: Modulating Mitochondrial Function and Protecting Against Chronic Diseases-A Narrative Reviewby María Ángeles Silva-Soto on May 14, 2025
CONCLUSIONS: Although recent scientific evidence supports the metabolic benefits of EVOO components on mitochondrial metabolism and function, further nutritional intervention studies with these components are recommended to confirm their clinical relevance as a dietary tool aimed at preventing and/or delaying age-related metabolic diseases.
- The Effects of a Mediterranean Diet on Metabolic Hormones and Cytokines in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Patients: A Prospective Interventional Studyby Anca Moțățăianu on May 14, 2025
Background: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a prevalent neurodegenerative disease but lacks effective treatments. Dietary interventions, notably the Mediterranean diet, promise to modulate disease pathways. This study aimed to investigate the impact of the Mediterranean diet on gut hormones and cytokines in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Methods: We conducted a 12-month, single-center prospective study on a total of 44 ALS patients. After a 6-month observation […]
- The Role of Plant-Based Nutrition and Exercise in Metabolic Syndrome: A Narrative Reviewby James Stavitz on May 14, 2025
CONCLUSIONS: Plant-based nutrition and structured exercise are effective strategies for managing MetS. Their synergistic effects highlight the importance of integrated lifestyle interventions for long-term metabolic health.
- Circulating Levels of Branched-Chain Amino Acids Are Associated with Diet: A Cross-Sectional Analysisby Keyuan Liu on May 14, 2025
Background: Higher circulating branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) are linked to cardiometabolic and neurological diseases. While diet is the primary BCAA source, its impact on circulating levels remains unclear. This study examined the association between dietary intake and circulating BCAA concentrations in a large population-based sample. Methods: Data from 2159 participants (58.2% women, mean age 53.4 ± 8.6 years) were analyzed. Dietary intake was assessed using a questionnaire covering […]
- Clinical Trial: A Mediterranean Low-FODMAP Diet Alleviates Symptoms of Non-Constipation IBS-Randomized Controlled Study and Volatomics Analysisby Arezina N Kasti on May 14, 2025
Background: Approximately 20% of patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) link symptoms to food intake; a low-FODMAP diet is effective in managing these symptoms. Aims: To evaluate the effectiveness of the Mediterranean version of the low-FODMAP Diet (MED-LFD) compared to NICE guidelines for IBS and to assess changes in stool volatile compound levels. Methods: 108 patients with Rome IV IBS without constipation were randomized into the MED-LFD or NICE group. Primary endpoints included […]
- Effects of Individualized Nutrition Therapy and Continuous Glucose Monitoring on Dietary and Sleep Quality in Individuals with Prediabetes and Overweight or Obesityby Raedeh Basiri on May 14, 2025
Background/Objectives: Despite advances in public health and medical treatment, the number of patients with type 2 diabetes is increasing and it remains among the top 10 causes of death and a leading cause of disability in the United States. Early interventions with innovative approaches are essential to improving dietary intake and blood glucose control, potentially preventing or delaying type 2 diabetes and related complications. This study examined the effects of integrating real-time…