So what’s really making us fat? According to health experts, it’s all about calories–and not getting enough exercise.
A new editorial from the British Journal of Sports Medicine argues this isn’t the case, however.
According to the editorial, which was published in late April, eating too much sugar and carbohydrates, regardless of a person’s actual caloric intake, is the real reason why obesity rates are skyrocketing–and why simply exercising more won’t stop it.
Now they recommend cutting out sugary or starchy products to slim down fast.
“Public health messaging has unhelpfully focused on maintaining a ‘healthy weight’ through calorie counting, but it’s the source of the calories that matters,” write researchers in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. “Sugar calories promote fat storage and hunger. Fat calories induce fullness or satiation.”
Why Carbohydrates and Sugar are Bad News
Naming statistics from several studies, researchers point that eating an additional 150 calories from sugar can up a persons’ risk of diabetes in a big way–by increasing their risk by 11-fold. In turn, diabetes is often associated with obesity, due to the unhealthy lifestyle factors that often lead to the disease.
Carbohydrates could be even worse, however, they say. Recent research also suggests that carbohydrates alone can contribute to metabolic syndrome, a collection of symptoms that also include central obesity. Left untreated, this can lead to diseases associated with obesity, such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
“And the evidence now suggests that carbs are no better,” write researchers. “Recent research indicates that cutting down on dietary carbohydrate is the single most effective approach for reducing all of the features of the metabolic syndrome and should be the primary strategy for treating diabetes, with benefits occurring even in the absence of weight loss.”
In addition, researchers call out the overmarketing of sugary beverages and foods labeled as energy foods. TV commercials, celebrity endorsements, and the ease of availability of these foods and beverages in health clubs lead consumers to believe they are making healthy choices–when in fact it is the opposite. By focusing on promoting healthy foods instead, especially a low-carbohydrate and low-sugar lifestyle, this could help reverse the obesity trend in America.
“Celebrity endorsements of sugary drinks and the association of junk food and sport must end,” they write. “The ‘health halo’ legitimisation [sic] of nutritionally deficient products is misleading and unscientific.”
Instead, they recommend replacing these misleading commercials and advertisements with proven research instead, though the strict policing they recommend has caused controversy within the scientific community. Following concerns over these recommendations, their editorial was removed from the British Medical Journal’s website shortly after it was published.
Regardless, some of the recommendations are backed by numerous health experts–such as avoiding carbohydrates and sugar as a way to keep slim.
“Let’s bust the myth of physical inactivity and obesity,” write researchers. “You can’t outrun a bad diet.”
Readers: Do you avoid any foods in your diet? If so, what do you avoid?
Source:
Sugar and Carbs, Not Physical Inactivity, Behind Surge in Obesity, Say Experts – BMJ.com
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