Skip to main content

Calorie Intake and Body Fatness on Unrestricted High-fat vs. High-carbohydrate Diets

In recent posts, we've explored the association between calorie intake and the US obesity epidemic, and the reasons why this association almost certainly represents a cause-and-effect relationship.  I also reviewed the evidence suggesting that carbohydrate and fat are equally fattening in humans, calorie for calorie.

One valid objection that came up in the comments is that calorie-controlled diets in a research setting may not reflect what happens in real life.  For example, in a context where calorie intake isn't tightly controlled, diet composition can impact calorie intake, in turn affecting body fatness.  This, of course, is true, and it forms one of the central pillars of our fat loss program the Ideal Weight Program.

Some low-carbohydrate diet advocates argue that the obesity epidemic was caused by US dietary guidelines that emphasize a carbohydrate-rich diet*.  The idea here is that the increase in calorie intake was due to the diet shifting in a more carbohydrate-heavy direction.  In other words, they're hypothesizing that a carbohydrate-rich eating style increases food intake, which increases body fatness**.  According to this hypothesis, if we had received advice to eat a fat-rich diet instead, we wouldn't be in the midst of an obesity epidemic.

Fortunately for us, this hypothesis has been tested-- many times!  Which eating style leads to higher calorie intake and body fatness when calories aren't controlled: a carbohydrate-rich diet, or a fat-rich diet?

Short-term Studies

Read more »

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Botched Circumcision Leads to Penis Amputation for Baby Boy

From  cord blood banking  to  baby naming ceremonies , parents of newborns have a bevy of key decisions to make when it comes to medical procedures and religious and/or cultural practices. For instance, as soon as a couple learns they're having a boy, they might find themselves grappling with the  decision to circumcise—or not . It's an individual, personal decision for every family. Thankfully, when parents opt in, most circumcisions go off without a hitch. However, a shocking story out of Egypt highlights one instance in which the routine procedure went terribly awry. A father from Cairo is speaking out after his son's  penis had to be amputated following a botched circumcision . The Jerusalem Post  reported that the father named Ashraf Helmi says he took his child to Cairo to be vaccinated and was convinced by his sister-in-law and a family friend to have his  1-month-old son Mohamed circumcised during the same doctor's visit. According to  Me...
Post a Comment
Read more

How Much Calcium do You Really Need

If your body does not receive enough calcium, it puts you at risk of osteoporosis and bone breakage. However, the amount of calcium required by your body largely depends on your age and gender. So, find out how much calcium you need. from Only My Health - Diet & Nutrition http://ift.tt/1tiyLxw
Post a Comment
Read more

Reduce Acid-Forming Proteins to Protect Kidney Function

Chronic kidney disease is a major public health problem affecting about one in eight Americans, increasing the risks of disease and death even among those with only mild decreases in kidney function. Low-cost, low-risk preventive strategies that anyone can do are needed to address the epidemic of kidney disease. I discuss some of these in my video Protein Source: An Acid Test for Kidney Function . Diet plays a role in kidney function decline. “Specifically, diets higher in animal protein, animal fat, and cholesterol” may be associated with protein leakage into the urine, which is a sign of kidney damage, and, generally, “diets higher in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, but lower in meat and sweets, may be protective” against kidney function decline. In comparison to the diet eaten by our ancient ancestors, not only are we eating more saturated fat, sugar, and salt, we now also eat an acid-producing diet, as opposed to a base-producing, or alkaline, diet. Ancestral human diet...
Post a Comment
Read more