Carbohydrates Cause Weight Gain - Just Another Diet Fad - By: Daniel Matthew Korn

The failure of popular low fat and low calorie diets suggested to many Americans that another culprit must be the cause of weight gain. The theory that carbohydrates cause weight gain was popularized by Dr. Robert Atkins. His high fat, high protein diet has now fallen out of favor, but there are still many diets advocating reducing or eliminating certain kinds of carbohydrates. While eliminating all carbohydrates is no longer in vogue, refined carbohydrates, particularly sugars, are still viewed as fattening.

Carbohydrates fill numerous roles in living organisms. They are involved in the storage and transportation of energy, they are used to build cartilage in animals, and they play a role in the immune system, fertilization, and blood clotting. The reason people can live on high fat diets like that devised by Dr. Atkins is because humans have the ability to make the carbohydrate glucose out of protein and fat. The brain and nervous system require this glucose for energy.

Refined Carbohydrates

Clearly, we cannot say that all carbohydrates are bad or even that all sugars are bad. The body requires sugars to survive, even manufacturing them when they are not consumed. That having been said, the carbohydrates we eat today are different from those we ate historically.

Today we are processing grains with machinery that removes the bran and germ from the whole grain. This processing, or refining, of carbohydrates has increased the speed with which food is able to raise blood sugar. Refined carbohydrates are non-whole grain foods like white bread, white rice, and pasta and baked goods made with white flour.

There are scientists who believe that, by eating more foods that quickly raise our blood sugar, we are harming our bodies' ability to manage our blood sugar. Their theory is that weight gain is caused by the body's reaction to these sharp changes in blood sugar, and that the key to weight loss is to avoid foods that cause rapid changes in blood sugar. While this idea is still controversial among scientists, new ideas usually are controversial. Let us examine the evidence.

Thailand

Thai meals always include rice. The Thai term for something served with rice literally means "not rice." In the 1950s, a group of researchers from Cornell University did a study of the diet of a small rice-growing village. They found that both the rich and the poor got about 80% of their calories from white rice. Despite their high consumption of this refined carbohydrate, obesity was not a health concern.

At the national level in Thailand, consumption of white rice still makes up between 70% and 80% of the calories in the diet. In the United States, calories from carbohydrates make up about 50% of the diet. The percentage of Thai adults who are obese is less than 6%. This is more than 80% less than the rate in the United States and a far lower rate than that of any European country. More interestingly since genetics can't explain the difference, in Thailand the rate of obesity is highest in the urban areas. There nutrition is more similar to the Western diet; consumption of refined carbohydrates is lower than in the rural areas. Since obesity in Thailand is highest where consumption of refined carbohydrates is lowest, refined carbohydrates cannot be the cause of obesity in that country.

Juice

While fruit juice is filled with many nutrients, calorically it is almost pure sugar. For this reason, people who believe that sugar and other carbohydrates are responsible for weight gain discourage the drinking of fruit juice. In 2006, the Minnesota Medical Association asked the federal government to remove fruit juices from its subsidized meal program that serves about 8 million low-income Americans.

However, we should remember that juice was available long before the modern period. The Greeks fermented grapes to make wine, and certain Zoroastrian Persians ate a diet that consisted almost completely of fruit and fruit juice. Despite the fact that fruits and fruit juices have been consumed for thousands of years, until the 20th century there were no examples of societies in which even one percent of the population was overweight. Not surprisingly, in the same year the Minnesota Medical Association made its request to the federal government, a study was published showing no correlation between consumption of pure fruit juice and weight gain. Other studies have reached similar conclusions.

Wrongly Accused

So why are carbohydrates suspected of causing weight gain, if the population of a country that eats more carbohydrates can be thinner than one which eats fewer, and low carbohydrate diets haven't resulted in long-term weight loss? Why are sugars suspected of leading to weight gain, if drinking sugar in the form of juice has not been linked to weight gain? It is because over the last forty years Americans have been getting more of their calories from sugar, a carbohydrate. During this time, the rate of Americans who are severely overweight has tripled.

While the two factors are correlated, it does not appear that one causes the other. In addition to the previous examples, a three-year study published in 2002 in Dietary Reference Intakes by the National Academy of Sciences concluded, "There is no clear and consistent association between increased intake of added sugars and [body weight]." Neither refined carbohydrates nor simple carbohydrates cause weight gain. However, despite real world examples and scientific studies, a large percentage of the public remains convinced that refined carbohydrates and sugars cause weight gain.

Copyright 2009 by Daniel Matthew Korn

About the Author

Daniel Matthew Korn is the author of Why Diet and Exercise Fail: How Current Research Contradicts Conventional Wisdom about Weight Loss. For more articles like this, visit his website at http://www.whydietandexercisefail.com.

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