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Thank you for this. I’ve always been underweight (hereditary), using carbs well without weight gain or inflammation. I understand you to be saying that it is the excess (whatever that means for you) of carb intake over energy expenditure that causes problems, not carbs themselves. This past summer I had a DCIS lesion removed and was warned to limit insulin spikes, as they can contribute to tumor recurrence. I “went paleo” and felt ok, but dropped too much weight. I also developed joint pain. So I slowly re-introduced carbs/sugars and it has helped. But my paleo endo tells me the… Read more »
Hi, Kay,
I really don’t see how the carbs would be contributing to inflammation. There could be a myriad of reasons why CRP is up, and it may have nothing to do with your diet. I would not be surprised that menopause may be playing a role.
Just started to read this. It is interesting, and I have not finished, so I have not made up my mind yet about this article.
Yes, you are right: Gary has a CARB/insulin hypothesis NOT a PROTEIN/insulin hypothesis. You are right in blaming the carbs.
Sabine, Gary implicates insulin as the mechanism behind which carbs are supposedly fattening. But if this was true, any food that is insulinemic should be fattening. Yet we know this is not the case.
On top of that, there are controlled studies using high carbohydrate diets (including high sugar intake) that show weight loss.
The “carb/insulin” hypothesis is a failed hypothesis. It fails on so many levels that it’s impossible to count. The fact that Taubes continues to promote such nonsense in the face of overwhelming evidence against him is quite telling.
Hi, I definitely agree with you and laud the citations you make. It seems insulin is just doing important tasks just right and is not to be blamed for fat gain, and its high blood sugar that is bad. But here is the deal – even if high blood sugar is bad, the carbblame circle is still intact – it just doesnt have the insulin link in it now thanks to your articles. To be specific, from [ excessive carbs > sugars > insulin > lipogenesis ], we can go to [ excessive carbs > sugars > insulin > lipogenesis… Read more »
Do you mind if I quote a couple of your posts as long as I provide credit and sources back to your website? My blog is in the very same area of interest as yours and my users would genuinely benefit from a lot of the information you present here. Please let me know if this ok with you. Appreciate it!
No problem, Adalberto, as long as you credit the sources
In your article why do you use research that is focused on the acute response of insulin?
It seems like a bit of sophistry on your part.
What is relevant is the chronic level of insulin in the body and hunger, not an acute response.
Someone left the following over at Robb Wolf’s blog that more pointedly describes what I tried to say: “It seems to me that saying insulin has an ‘acute anorexigenic effect’ is like saying cocaine has an acute positive psychological effect. Technically true but missing the point.” I would take it a step further and say that you are intentionally misleading. I am greatly disappointed, because I was looking for a detractor of Taubes and Low Carb that seemed to have some legitimacy. I read what the low carb diet promoters had to say and wanted a second contrarian opinion before… Read more »
Insulin in the above studies was measured before, during and after the meal.
At what other time did you want to have it measured?
The “chronic” level would be the fasted level after meals.
Good luck in your quest to live without insulin!
Thank your for the great information. I wonder why you not allow to copy your article, as Id like to save them on my pc.
Olanzapine (Zyprexa) causes insulin levels to increase dramatically. Healthy adults experience big weight gain as a side effect of Zyprexa. How do you explain this?
Thank you for the articles; very interesting. Please help me understand one thing about the first two graphs in this section. They seem to indicate lower insulin levels in type 2 diabetics than in the control group of normal individuals. I was under the impression that type 2 diabetics actually tend to have higher insulin levels than normal individuals; their bodies simply don’t respond to it (insulin resistance). Am I misreading the graphs, or am I just wrong about type 2 diabetes? (Quite possible, and I won’t be offended if that’s the case!)
Greg,
The graphs show the rate per unit time of insulin secretion by the pancreas. This is not the same thing as overall insulin levels in the blood (which are function of both secretion and removal).
So you are maintaining that any calories controlled diet will work equally well? So 2000 kcal is 2000kcal and it doesn’t matter what macros you eat for weightloss? I have to say this is counter to my experience. I ate 2,500 kcal a day, weighed and measured, food-pyramid recommendation and lost 10lbs in 6 months. I dropped my carb to 75-100g a day with no wheat and a single serving of berries and dropped 90lbs in 6 months. I think you have an axe to grind and are misrepresenting the facts. Why? I don’t know. I just know what you… Read more »
So you are maintaining that any calories controlled diet will work equally well? This is a strawman. I never made such an assertion. I ate 2,500 kcal a day, weighed and measured, food-pyramid recommendation and lost 10lbs in 6 months. I dropped my carb to 75-100g a day with no wheat and a single serving of berries and dropped 90lbs in 6 months. Unless you are simultaneously measuring your energy expenditure using doubly labeled water, and your food intake is tightly controlled under research conditions, your personal anecdote can hardly be constituted as evidence. I think you have an axe… Read more »
Fantastic, reminds me of the Malcolm Gladwell article from Martin Berkhan’s site
http://www.leangains.com/2010/06/malcolm-gladwell-on-low-carb-diets.html
Great post. Seems like you have a little spelling mistake, or missing a word, in the last sentence though..
“…where I discuss dairy products are extremely insulinemic, yet do not promote weight gain.”
Thanks for the catch. I corrected the mistake.