Study Notes for the Quilt - Leptin Part Deux....Liver

This post is about leptin resistance in the liver cells.  Here's Dr. K's reader's summary:
"Readers Summary:
1. Liver is the engine of metabolism and not the thyroid
2. What does the liver do in normal metabolic conditions and in leptin resistance
3. Where does cholesterol (LDL subtypes) fit into this leptin story.
4. How does Metabolic Syndrome commence and why does it happen.
5. Why your regular labs may be completely normal while your slowly dying."
Pretty good, then again, maybe after reading all the posts over and over, it is starting to look easy. Here's the link.

And now, the notes:
1.  Contrary to popular opinion, your liver controls metabolism, not your thyroid gland.
2.  When you eat, 60% goes to the liver for longer-term storage, 40% goes to the muscles and other places to be used right away.
3.  If the muscle cells are leptin-sensitive, all the 40% is used.  Yippie!
4.  If the muscle cells are leptin-resistant, the leftovers go to the liver.
5.  go to the liver => make fat => stored in fat cells or in the liver
6.  If your fat gets full of even more fat => more leptin (bad)
7.  If your liver gets full of fat =>inflammation =>BAD
8.  Uh Oh, here's more trouble!  If the liver cells are leptin-resistant, they tell any extra fat to go away.  ("Go away!  We aren't taking any more of your LDL's") =>LDL's stay in the blood (bad) => liver crams more fat into LDL's.
9.  Carbs go towards the making of small dense LDL
10.  Protein and fat go towards the making of large fluffy LDL
11.  If you are testing your blood lipids, the most important number is the sdLDL.  It should be as low as possible.  SdLDL particles are easily damaged and can cause plaque.
12.  eat too many carbs => make sdLDL => damage =>all sorts of diseases => BAD
13.  eat too much protein and fat => make fluffier LDL => fat storage (location depends on other hormones)
14.  Too much Fructose => makes even MORE sdLDL!!!!! (so don't do this)
15.  When our liver is leptin-sensitive, it sends its stored fuel to muscles, etc. when needed.
16.  When our liver is leptin-resistant, it doesn't send the stored fuel to muscles, but stores it as more fat.
17.  Liver leptin resistance => fatty liver => inflammation => metabolic syndrome + large waist + fatigue + can't lose weight no matter how little you eat + exercise doesn't help weight loss.
18.  So, you can have all these problems with a normal thyroid test.
19.  Waist size and hs-CRP are better measures of health, but start looking at hs-CRP early on.

Here's more to research:
LDL, or Low-Density Lipoprotein.  (Most of the lit still portrays LDL as "bad".)  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-density_lipoprotein
Here's some information about a prominent inflammatory chemical:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interleukin_6
Here's some general info about the liver:  http://www.umm.edu/liver/liver.htm