Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Friday 4 January 2019
Low carb? Low fat? What the latest dieting studies tell us

By CANDICE CHOI ings don't contradict Lud-
AP Food & Health Writer wig's low-carb study. In-
NEW YORK (AP) — Ba- stead, they suggest there
con and black coffee for may be some flexibility
breakfast, or oatmeal and in the ways we can lose
bananas? weight. Participants in both
If you're planning to try to groups were encouraged
lose weight in 2019, you're to focus on minimally pro-
sure to find a fierce debate cessed foods like produce
online and among friends and meat prepared at
and family about how best home. Everyone was ad-
to do it. It seems like every- vised to limit added sugar
one has an opinion, and and refined flour.
new fads emerge every "If you got that foundation
year. right, for many, that would
Two major studies last year be an enormous change,"
provided more fuel for a said Christopher Gardner
particularly polarizing top- of Stanford University and
ic — the role carbs play in one of the study's authors.
making us fat. The studies Limiting processed foods
gave scientists some clues, could improve most diets
but, like other nutrition stud- by cutting down overall
ies, they can't say which calories, while still leaving
diet — if any — is best for wiggle room for people's
everyone. preferences. That's impor-
That's not going to satisfy tant, because for a diet to
people who want black- be effective, a person has
and-white answers, but nu- This June 9, 2014 file photo shows a dish of steak and cheese pasta in Concord, N.H. to be able to stick to it. A
trition research is extremely Associated Press breakfast of fruit and oat-
difficult and even the most meal may be filling for one
respected studies come more support for low-carb they've lost it. He said the has twice as many calories person, but leave another
with big caveats. People proponents. But, like many approach might work best than the same amount of hungry soon after.
are so different that it's all studies, it tried to under- for those with diabetes or carbs or protein. Gardner notes the study
but impossible to conduct stand just one sliver of how pre-diabetes. Many say the advice had had its limitations, too.
studies that show what re- the body works. Ludwig noted the study the opposite effect by inad- Participants' diets weren't
ally works over long periods The study , co-led by an wasn't intended to test vertently giving us license controlled. People were in-
of time. author of books promoting long-term health effects to gobble up fat-free cook- stead instructed on how to
Before embarking on a low-carb diets, looked at or real-world scenarios ies, cakes and other foods achieve eating a low-carb
weight loss plan for the new whether varying carb levels where people make their that were instead full of the or low-fat in regular meet-
year, here's a look at some might affect how the body own food. The findings also refined carbs and sugars ings with dietitians, which
of what was learned last uses energy. Among 164 need to be replicated to now blamed for our wider may have provided a sup-
year. participants, it found those be validated, he said. waistlines. port network most dieters
FEWER CARBS, FEWER on low-carb diets burned Caroline Apovian of Boston Nutrition experts gradually don't have.
POUNDS? more total calories than University's School of Medi- moved away from blan- SO, WHAT WORKS?
It's no longer called the At- those on high-carb diets. cine said the findings are ket recommendations to In the short term you can
kins Diet, but the low-carb The study did not say peo- interesting fodder for the limit fats for weight loss. Fats probably lose weight by
school of dieting has been ple lost more weight on a scientific community, but are necessary for absorb- eating only raw foods, or
enjoying a comeback. The low-carb diet — and didn't that they shouldn't be tak- ing important nutrients and going vegan, or cutting out
idea is that the refined car- try to measure that. Meals en as advice for the aver- can help us feel full. That gluten, or following another
bohydrates in foods like and snacks were tightly age person looking to lose doesn't mean you have to diet plan that catches your
white bread are quickly controlled and continu- weight. subsist on steak drizzled in eye. But what will work for
converted into sugar in our ally adjusted so everyone's DO I AVOID FAT TO BE SKIN- butter to be healthy. you over the long term is a
bodies, leading to energy weights stayed stable. NY? Bruce Y. Lee, a professor different question.
swings and hunger. David Ludwig, a lead au- For years people were ad- of international health at Zhaoping Li, director of
By cutting carbs, the claim thor of the paper and re- vised to curb fats , which Johns Hopkins, said the les- clinical nutrition division at
is that weight loss will be searcher at Boston Chil- are found in foods includ- sons learned from the anti- the University of California,
easier because your body dren's Hospital, said it sug- ing meat, nuts, eggs, but- fat fad should be applied Los Angeles, says there is no
will instead burn fat for fuel gests limiting carbs could ter and oil. Cutting fat was to the anti-carb fad: don't single set of guidelines that
while feeling less hungry. A make it easier for people seen as a way to control oversimplify advice. help everyone lose weight
recent study seems to offer to keep weight off once weight, since a gram of fat "There's a constant look for and keep it off. It's why di-
an easy way out," Lee said. ets often fail — they don't
SO WHICH IS BETTER? factor into account the
Another big study this past many factors that drive us
year found low-carb di- to eat what we do.
ets and low-fat diets were To help people lose weight,
about equally as effective Li examines her patients'
for weight loss. Results var- eating and physical activ-
ied by individual, but af- ity routines to identify im-
ter a year, people in both provements people will be
groups shed an average of able to live with.
12 to 13 pounds. "What sticks is what mat-
The author noted the find- ters," Li said.q