Carbs make you fat, but fat doesn't

svbeyer

A study published last month, rather than looking only at total “calories in, calories out,” looked instead at the individual contribution of carbohydrates, fat, and protein to weight gain in the populations of 164 countries,

Their conclusion: "Findings from all analyses suggest that increases in carbohydrates are most strongly and positively associated with increases in obesity prevalence even when controlling for changes in total caloric intake and occupation-related physical activity. If anything, increases in fat intake are associated with decreases in population weight."

The article is "Macronutrients and Obesity: Revisiting the Calories in, Calories out Framework" and the abstract is at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2279503.

toutmonpossible

A study published last month, rather than looking only at total “calories in, calories out,” looked instead at the individual contribution of carbohydrates, fat, and protein to weight gain in the populations of 164 countries,

Their conclusion: "Findings from all analyses suggest that increases in carbohydrates are most strongly and positively associated with increases in obesity prevalence even when controlling for changes in total caloric intake and occupation-related physical activity. If anything, increases in fat intake are associated with decreases in population weight."

The article is "Macronutrients and Obesity: Revisiting the Calories in, Calories out Framework" and the abstract is at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2279503.

In the past several years, it's been recognized that fat has been wrongly villified. Yet another dietary pendulum swing. It still doesn't mean that even healthy fat can be eaten with abandon.

neanderthin

A study published last month, rather than looking only at total “calories in, calories out,” looked instead at the individual contribution of carbohydrates, fat, and protein to weight gain in the populations of 164 countries,

Their conclusion: "Findings from all analyses suggest that increases in carbohydrates are most strongly and positively associated with increases in obesity prevalence even when controlling for changes in total caloric intake and occupation-related physical activity. If anything, increases in fat intake are associated with decreases in population weight."

The article is "Macronutrients and Obesity: Revisiting the Calories in, Calories out Framework" and the abstract is at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2279503.

In the past several years, it's been recognized that fat has been wrongly villified. Yet another dietary pendulum swing. It still doesn't mean that even healthy fat can be eaten with abandon.

They used data from the USDA for possible macro intake also accounting for food disappearance (food available for sale - wastage = consumed).......nutrition is a wonderful sugarland where grants are given out like candy. Anyway, no, not even close to anything resembling reality.

cyclebummer

In all countries, carbs are the least expensive food available and therefore contribute the most cals. In most countries, animal fat is the most expensive, and therefore contribute the least cals.

Adkins dieters know that no carbs, all fat/protein make for weight loss. The 'study' proved nothing that wasn't already known.

It's still all about cals in, cals out.

CrankMeUp

NO.

NancyKhuu

I'm Asian born in Asia and have a rice - dominant diet. 80% of my calories used to be from white rice and I'm not fat. 5ft2 and 106lbs. The only reason I switch to high protein diet is to build muscles, not to lose fat. My cousin born in the US has a very low Carb diet, she rarely eats more than 1 cup of rice, and weights 20 lbs more than I do with the same height.

CoderGal

NO.

BrianSharpe

Adkins dieters know that no carbs, all fat/protein make for weight loss. The 'study' proved nothing that wasn't already known.

It's still all about cals in, cals out.

and low carb is just another way of doing it.......it' not the "no carbs" that promotes weight loss, it's the caloric restriction - even though I'm inclined to agree that higher fat & protein promotes satiety which may make it easier to succeed for some people (does nobody remember the Twinkie Diet? http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html)

ngyoung

I'm Asian born in Asia and have a rice - dominant diet. 80% of my calories used to be from white rice and I'm not fat. 5ft2 and 106lbs. The only reason I switch to high protein diet is to build muscles, not to lose fat. My cousin born in the US has a very low Carb diet, she rarely eats more than 1 cup of rice, and weights 20 lbs more than I do with the same height.

Could the difference be that you got most of your carbs from just rice and your cousin got them from rice, pizza, donuts, cookies, french fries, and everything else that goes along with anwestern carbage junk diet.

yaseyuku

NO.

invisibubble

How about no? I lost the majority of my bulk eating little other than carbs due to money, housing issues and ill-education.

Helloitsdan

A study published last month, rather than looking only at total “calories in, calories out,” looked instead at the individual contribution of carbohydrates, fat, and protein to weight gain in the populations of 164 countries,

Their conclusion: "Findings from all analyses suggest that increases in carbohydrates are most strongly and positively associated with increases in obesity prevalence even when controlling for changes in total caloric intake and occupation-related physical activity. If anything, increases in fat intake are associated with decreases in population weight."

The article is "Macronutrients and Obesity: Revisiting the Calories in, Calories out Framework" and the abstract is at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2279503.

Macronutrients are important yes, however you can eat 50% of the right carbohydrates all day every day and lose fat, gain muscle, look like a god/goddess.

Mustang_Susie

I'm Asian born in Asia and have a rice - dominant diet. 80% of my calories used to be from white rice and I'm not fat. 5ft2 and 106lbs. The only reason I switch to high protein diet is to build muscles, not to lose fat. My cousin born in the US has a very low Carb diet, she rarely eats more than 1 cup of rice, and weights 20 lbs more than I do with the same height.

Studies also show a lower incidence of colorectal cancers related to traditional Asian and Mediterranean diets.

bumblebums

Tagging to read the paper. A couple of words of caution:

1. The venue this paper is appearing in a working papers volume, which usually means it has not been rigorously peer-reviewed. Many working papers in social science fields are not reviewed at all.
2. The authors are economists, not necessarily someone I would look to for advice on pretty much anything but certainly not physiology of nutrition.

laserturkey

CALORIES make you fat, but only if you have too many of them.

navyrigger46

Carbs are not the devil, but all things in moderation. People have a tendency to take things to the extreme, eat carbs, but don't make them 80% of your diet, same goes for fats, and keep calories in check, that's it. The main problem is that people who eat a lot of carbs and get fat are also just eating too much in general.

Rigger

CyberEd312

Lol um no........ carbs are not the enemy. .....

Unknown

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ggxx100

Wrong.

FunkyTobias

Mustang_Susie

I knew it!
A pyramid scheme :bigsmile:

jmarie1967

Adkins dieters know that no carbs, all fat/protein make for weight loss. The 'study' proved nothing that wasn't already known.

It's still all about cals in, cals out.

and low carb is just another way of doing it.......it' not the "no carbs" that promotes weight loss, it's the caloric restriction - even though I'm inclined to agree that higher fat & protein promotes satiety which may make it easier to succeed for some people (does nobody remember the Twinkie Diet? http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html)

Agree, very little hunger with the atkins plan, and yes, most of do control calories, and exercise is important as well!

Jersey_Devil

43932452

Certain fat will be worse of coarse! Like fried in fat and less lean
meat, cheeses, many are greasy based. In moderation and not
often I'm sure anything is okay .. the trouble really is the American
culture ... 'more-more bigger bigger'. Not so much particular macros.

bumblebums

They used data from the USDA for possible macro intake also accounting for food disappearance (food available for sale - wastage = consumed).......nutrition is a wonderful sugarland where grants are given out like candy. Anyway, no, not even close to anything resembling reality.

Okay, I read the paper. I try to avoid reading non-peer-reviewed papers by academics, and this paper was a painful reminder of how badly written these things tend to be.

For the American part of the study, they analyzed the relationships between food disappearance, and estimates of work-related energy expenditures, and data on the macronutrient composition of the food and the BMI of the people. Food an estimate of how much food is available for human consumption, though not a good measure of how much people actually eat because nobody is counting how much of the food ends up in the restaurant garbage can. The energy expenditure measure is particularly bad, since I don't think it is a stretch to assume that people are getting less exercise as the country is becoming more and more suburban. What they do next is look at whether obesity increases as a function of carb intake, while controlling for correlated variables (cointegrated, in time series talk) that tend to increase as carb intake increases. They found the normal expected effects: the less you move and the more you eat, the fatter you get, and the more you eat carbs, the more you eat other things. There is also this crucial passage:

In  comparison,  protein   consumption  shows  a  mixed  pattern,  in  some  cases  associated  with  an  increase  in  weight  (overweight   prevalence)  and  in  others  a  decrease  in  weight  (obesity  prevalence).  Although  revealing,  a  limitation  of   dynamic  OLS  and  error  correction  models  is  their  inability  to  account  for  potential  dynamic  interactions   between  the  regressors  and  feedback  effects  from  the  dependent  variable.

This is where I became despondent. In order to assert that intake of carbs is a predictor of obesity, you have to keep protein intake constant, and there is no way to do that with their data because carb/protein intake levels are correlated (in this case, inversely) if you keep calories constant.

There is also the issue that someone noted earlier in the thread about diabetes/insulin sensitivity. Suppose you get fat from eating too much of everything, develop insulin insensitivity, and then eat a high-carb diet while not moving much. Carbs didn't make you fat, but they might make you even fatter than you would be if you were eating a more balanced diet at that stage.

Anyway, this paper is a long way away from constituting conclusive proof of the claim in the thread title.

cwolfman13

It's still calories in/out. when you go low carb, you're just eliminating and/or severely restricting a macro...of course, your calorie count is going to be lower...thus you lose weight. Carbs are easier to store and I would generally agree that sedentary individuals could be well served by reducing carbohydrate intake...but carbs don't make you fat (medical conditions aside). If I ate a **** ton of carbs and had an energy deficit from maintenance, I'm still going to lose fat. Why do so many people, including these studies continue to ignore something as universally sound and simple as the laws of thermodynamics. Study is stupid.

Also...it's been known for quite awhile that dietary fat doesn't make you fat....it's actually fairly essential to losing fat considering it keeps your hormones in check.

LiftAllThePizzas

I'm Asian born in Asia and have a rice - dominant diet. 80% of my calories used to be from white rice and I'm not fat. 5ft2 and 106lbs. The only reason I switch to high protein diet is to build muscles, not to lose fat. My cousin born in the US has a very low Carb diet, she rarely eats more than 1 cup of rice, and weights 20 lbs more than I do with the same height.

Studies also show a lower incidence of colorectal cancers related to traditional Asian and Mediterranean diets.

Studies also show a lower incidence of red hair related to traditional Asian and Mediterranean diets.

Helloitsdan

Ancestral dieting has its merit.

I have a new client in Pakistan who PMed me the other day asking about eating naan style breads.
I replied "if your great grandparents ate it then you should too!"

zyxst

NO.