You might find it hard to believe, but some scientists suggest that you should "learn to lose weight from pigs."

 

In March 2023, researchers from the United States and Canada published a paper in the journal *Metabolites* titled "To Combat Obesity, Eat Like a Pig."

 

The scientists seriously stated that pigs are very suitable subjects for obesity research. Pigs often eat very healthily and maintain a balanced diet. Moreover, they have developed a "natural eating method that aligns with their physiological clock and makes it difficult for them to gain weight," which humans have unfortunately lost.

 

### 1. Pigs: Excellent Research Subjects

 

When people think of pigs, they often think of them as fat.

 

While pigs are indeed suitable subjects for obesity research, it’s not solely because they are overweight.

 

In fact, the average body fat percentage of modern pigs is at a level where humans can see their abs.

 

Pigs are becoming leaner while humans are getting fatter mainly because humans prefer lean meat, leading to an increase in the number of lean-type pigs being raised.

 

One study accurately measured the body fat percentage of 48 pigs and found that the average was 17.8%, ranging from 9.3% to 24.3%.

 

This value is even lower than that of many humans, where male body fat percentages typically range from 12% to 20%, and female body fat percentages range from 21% to 30%.

 

The real reasons why pigs are suitable for obesity-related research are as follows:

 

**Physiological Similarity**

 

Pigs share very similar physiological mechanisms, digestive tract structures, digestion rates, and metabolic pathways with humans.

 

Like humans, pigs are also omnivorous animals.

 

In the wild, pigs eat roots, stems, leaves, fruits, eggs, insects, honey, and happily consume meat when available.

 

Porcine insulin was once used to treat type 1 diabetes in humans. Digestive enzymes extracted from pig pancreases were used to treat pancreatic insufficiency in humans. Genetically modified pig organs may one day be transplanted into humans to treat organ failure.

 

More importantly, pig data is reliable!

 

Pigs can be used for large-scale studies. There are as many pigs in farms as needed.

 

Their diets can be strictly controlled without any extra snacks.

 

Convincing humans to eat boring healthy foods is inherently difficult. Especially over time, when friends around them are eating barbecues or drinking milk tea, it becomes hard for humans not to stray from their diets.

 

Pigs also do not deceive researchers by saying they haven't eaten after consuming food.

 

In contrast, humans often omit certain items from their dietary reports that might "anger scientists."

 

In summary, pig data can serve as an excellent reference for humans.

 

### 2. How Do Pigs Eat?

 

**Pay Attention to Natural Signals from the Body**

 

One significant difference between pigs and humans is "when they eat."

 

Compared to pigs, human meal times seem somewhat "inconvenient."

 

Human eating habits are usually driven by emotions and often occur at times that "align with social norms" or when food is readily available.

 

In contrast, pigs strive to eat at times that meet their physiological needs; insulin, melatonin, and cortisol may be driving factors.

 

(Humans may have lost this instinct.)

 

Pigs do not prefer large meals all at once; they prefer smaller meals more frequently—about 5 to 6 times a day.

 

Analysis shows that this pattern of eating smaller meals helps maintain stable blood sugar levels and reduces the likelihood of glucose converting into fat.

 

Thus, even if total calorie intake remains unchanged, pigs find it harder to gain weight and tend to develop more muscle mass.

 

Pigs naturally enjoy breakfast and dinner; they generally eat the most during dinner around 7-8 PM.

 

Following this natural rhythm makes it least likely for pigs to become overweight.

 

However, if they deviate from this eating pattern, they can easily gain weight.

 

Once scientists forced piglets' meal times to change by 12 hours, the result was a 7% decrease in physical activity and a 7% increase in fat accumulation.

 

The conclusion is that calories consumed between 7-8 PM are less likely to convert into fat; however, consuming the same calories at midnight can lead to fat gain.

 

(A horse doesn't get fat without wild grass; a pig doesn't get fat without midnight snacks.)

 

Another situation arises when low status prevents them from eating according to their natural rhythm.

 

If pigs are raised in groups, higher-status pigs can eat whenever they want and thus can follow their natural eating rhythm.

 

But lower-status pigs aren’t so fortunate; they must wait until higher-status pigs finish eating before they can eat. As a result, they miss out on food during "natural eating peak periods" and must compensate by eating more at other times.

 

Consequently, lower-status pigs tend to gain weight more easily.

 

This aligns with the "insurance hypothesis" in obesity research—that is, "the inability to guarantee food supply security drives weight gain."

 

Due to the inability to eat whenever desired and only eating when food is available leads to a mismatch between dietary patterns and endocrine patterns resulting in obesity.

 

In terms of taste preferences regarding pig feed research on palatability shows that like humans, pigs enjoy unhealthy sweet foods—foods with high insulin indices.

 

However, feeders consider nutrition; thus pigs are usually forced to consume more vegetables, whole grains, and legumes.

 

These foods digest slowly and do not cause rapid spikes in blood sugar levels making it easier for them to develop lean muscle mass.

 

Research has found that while pigs do not prefer healthy foods when only healthy options are available they will settle for those foods anyway.

 

Even if feeding times aren’t ideal pigs still don’t gain much weight—why?

 

It could be because pig feed is exceptionally balanced nutritionally—it can be considered an excellent healthy balanced diet.

 

**Significant Genetic Influences**

 

Not every pig has the constitution that makes it easy for them to gain fat.

 

For example, Pietrain pigs are lean-type pigs that appear as if they work out in the gym every day (← direct quote from the paper).

 

Meishan pigs (originating from China—a subgroup of Taihu pigs) are fatty-type pigs that look like couch potatoes (← direct quote from the paper).

 

The differences between these two categories of pigs mainly lie in how much muscle mass they possess and how they utilize energy.

 

Lean-type pigs typically mature later have stronger muscle growth abilities possess less fat easily losing heat in cold environments.

 

In contrast fatty-type pigs usually mature earlier have weaker muscle growth abilities possess fat insulation against cold environments retaining heat better.

 

Lean-type pigs require higher-quality feed; for rapid muscle growth they typically need high-protein low-carbohydrate feed (← doesn’t this resemble what fitness trainers recommend for muscle gain?).

 

Historically our country preferred raising fatty-type pigs which had another advantage—"tolerance for rough feed." They could eat anything and still gain weight. The body fat percentage of such pigs may not necessarily be lower than that of humans.

 

**Postnatal Experiences Can Also Influence**

 

If piglets face adversity such as hypoxia or malnutrition during fetal or early stages they may develop an "easy-to-gain-weight" constitution.

 

These piglets exhibit insulin resistance similar to type 2 diabetes meaning they become insensitive to insulin causing it not to function properly.

 

From a molecular mechanism perspective this falls under "epigenetic programming." Postnatal experiences can regulate the expression of innate genes.

 

For humans this means those who experienced famine during fetal or early childhood stages are more prone to type 2 diabetes and obesity later in life.

 

However one remarkable aspect about pigs is that even if they develop an "easy-to-gain-weight constitution," very few actually become severely obese in reality.

 

Research has found these insulin-resistant pigs seem capable of sensing changes in their blood sugar levels. If fed a regular diet these piglets will automatically control their intake eating less. However if fed a "low glycemic index" diabetic-friendly diet these piglets will gorge themselves! Moreover when consuming this diabetic-friendly diet their growth rate matches that of other pigs!

 

(In contrast humans have lost this ability to "sense whether their diet causes excessive blood sugar.")

 

Pigs also encounter another significant event—castration.

 

Castrated pigs...eat more!

 

To maintain the same body weight castrated males require the most food followed by uncastrated females while uncastrated males require the least food overall.

 

This means for pigs losing certain worldly desires also results in losing the ability to retain body fat effectively.

 

### To Build Muscle: Nutritional Balance Is Crucial

 

Research has also shown that building muscle is genuinely challenging for pigs compared with how easy it is for them to accumulate fat.

 

Converting consumed food into fat seems like “the simplest pathway.”

 

Transforming food into muscle requires balanced nutrition within pig feed without deficiencies in amino acids minerals B vitamins phosphates and other trace nutrients.

 

Phosphates are vital yet often overlooked nutrients; if pigs consume starch without sufficient phosphates starch easily converts into fat.

 

When phosphates are adequate it becomes easier for pigs to convert calories into muscle rather than fat.

 

One study had two groups of pigs—one group fed phosphate-rich (0.475%) feed while another group received phosphate-deficient (0.08%) feed. The results showed that the phosphate-deficient group ate less overall reducing intake by 4%; however their fat increased by 17%-21%, while total muscle mass decreased by 6%-8%.

 

Animals seem capable of sensing when they're lacking phosphates; sometimes herbivores start chewing bones just to obtain phosphates.

 

Research also indicates (for pigs) there’s no such thing as junk food—only junk recipes. As long as proportions are appropriate and nutrition sufficient even well-balanced diets will not lead them into excessive obesity.

 

One study involved feeding pigs with diets made from “ultra-processed foods.”

 

A Dutch animal feed company collected a large amount of discarded human food—cookies caramel bread gummies cream… all things likely leading towards weight gain.

 

However using these items as raw materials while adding sufficient nutrients produced pig feed which surprisingly did not lead to noticeable weight gain.

 

By the way having enough muscle mass prevents pigs from becoming easy-to-gain-weight types.

 

For every kilocalorie of net energy consumed by a pig approximately 0.916 kilocalories convert into fat.

 

Whereas if that same kilocalorie were used for protein synthesis only about 0.511 kilocalories would form protein.

 

Moreover once formed fats do not renew much—they quietly remain on the pig’s body consuming minimal extra energy.

 

However once muscles form proteins continuously need renewal thus requiring ongoing energy expenditure.

 

### Fructose: Potentially Unhealthy

 

Pigs face three major issues with fructose: low digestibility burden on liver inducing obesity.

 

Fructose naturally occurs in fruits honey but has recently appeared abundantly in processed foods sweet beverages due largely due human discovery methods producing massive amounts of fructose syrup from corn making this extremely cheap sugar dominate markets.

 

Consequently humans have become increasingly overweight—of course multiple factors contribute but fructose certainly plays its part.

 

Fructose metabolizes within the liver consuming significant amounts of phosphates during metabolism leading easily accumulated fats within liver causing fatty liver disease.

 

From a digestive perspective studies on piglets show their intestines absorb 98.3% sucrose and glucose but only 86.6% fructose. Additionally fructose may cause diarrhea among piglets suggesting similar situations may exist among some humans who struggle digesting fructose effectively.

 

There exists a “fructose wintering hypothesis” suggesting fructose-induced fattening once provided survival advantages. Historically fructose appeared only during autumn fruits when wild animals consumed high-fructose foods gaining substantial fats creating energy reserves enabling survival through scarce winter months.

 

The problem now lies within unlimited year-round supplies leading bodies into “constant wintering” states.

 

### Fat: Pigs Gain What They Eat

 

A notable characteristic regarding fats among pigs is—they gain whatever type of fats they consume.

 

Essentially if fed saturated fats they'll accumulate saturated fats; conversely if given unsaturated fats they'll store unsaturated fats instead.

 

This trait has presented challenges within pig farming practices.

 

Saturated fats remain solid at room temperature whereas unsaturated fats remain liquid under similar conditions. Some farmers mix unsaturated fats like mayonnaise into feeds resulting in excessive unsaturated fats among their livestock leading pork becoming difficultly sliceable due its liquid state at room temperature.

 

In recent years people have increasingly consumed unsaturated fats too—a hypothesis suggests this trend makes internal body fats even more unsaturated appearing “more fluid.” Under gravity excess body fats tend towards sagging thus contributing towards signs of aging appearance-wise.

 

### Summary of Pigs' Weight Loss Experiences

 

The insights gained from observing how pigs manage weight loss can be summarized as follows:

 

1. Eating according to physiological rhythms without work schedules helps prevent weight gain.

2. Maintaining nutritional balance reduces chances of gaining weight; lacking trace nutrients like phosphates increases likelihoods of accumulating body fat.

3. Experiencing past famines (including excessive dieting) predisposes bodies towards gaining weight easier later on.

4. Reducing fructose intake is beneficial.

5. Total caloric intake holds significant importance; controlling calorie intake within pig feeds allows precise adjustments regarding weight changes which likely applies similarly among humans.