Fat, Sugar Or Carbs: Which Is the Bad Guy?

You're in a supermarket holding a cereal packet. It says 'low-fat' and the traffic light label is green showing that there's very little saturated fat. So far so good - for your waistline and your heart, right?


But then you notice that the sugar content is pretty high. So is a low-fat label really that healthy? The question has been going round in my head since reading an editorial in the BMJ this week that claims that saturated fat may not be the enemy it's been made out to be.

The editorial has stirred up one of the hottest topics about dietary advice this year. It asserts the opinion that saturated fat hasn't shown a risk to heart disease in several studies and may even be protective against some conditions. But recommendations about the amount of fat we should have in our diets haven't come out of thin air. The science behind them comes from a landmark study published in 1970. Researchers found that diets high in saturated fat were linked to higher levels of 'bad' cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein), which is a key risk factor for heart disease.

So, when it comes to protecting our health, which foods do we need to cut out or even eliminate? If saturated fat isn't the villain in our diets, what is? The editorial goes on to suggest that sugar and carbohydrates could be the key suspects.

The debate surrounding fats and sugars is fascinating and certainly food for thought. And it's sugar I want to focus on. It's been linked to weight gain, tooth decay and poor nutrition. That's nothing new. But in the last few years alone, evidence has been emerging to suggest sugar consumption is a key contributor to one of the biggest disease burdens of our modern world - type two diabetes.

In particular, there is mounting evidence to suggest that sugary drinks significantly increase the risk of this condition. The problem with a spoonful of sugar (or several in most fizzy drinks) is that it adds up to a lot of empty calories that can lead to weight gain. Furthermore, there's evidence to suggest that excessive amounts of sugar causes insulin resistance, which leads to type two diabetes.

To pull a few key stats, in a recent study, researchers found that drinking a can of sugar-sweetened soft drink increased the risk of type two diabetes in European men and women by 22%. Another piece of research found a 26% increased risk when people drank one or more sugary drinks per day compared with those who drank none or less than one a month. It seems sugary drinks have a lot to answer for.

Returning to the issue of weight loss, this leads me on to another key component of diet - carbohydrates. This energy-rich source of fuel has also been regarded as a culprit for weight gain in recent years. You only need to google 'low-carb diets' to be presented with over 17,000 results for ways you can jump start weight loss, curb cravings and burn more fat.

But thousands of results can't be wrong, can they? The effect of low carbs in your diet means that once your body uses up your stored glucose it then starts to burn stored fat instead. The concept of using fat for fuel has made these types of diets so appealing for people wanting to shift a few pounds.

The diet has divided opinion across the board, but for me there is definitely something in this sugary hypothesis. However, it isn't sustainable or healthy in the long term to substantially reduce carbs. Carbohydrates are vital for energy - they prevent protein being used for energy (as it's needed elsewhere), and helps keep your blood sugar levels on an even keel. These are the 'good' carbs.

So perhaps it's more to do with a re-education about carbohydrates - because some carbs can be bad for you. Refined, processed carbs, such as white bread, fast food burgers and white pasta contain sugars that are easy to digest and strip away beneficial fibre. And it's these 'sugar' carbs that can lead to weight gain. Found in thousands of food products - it's no wonder they've been touted as 'fat foods'.

So where does this leave us? The food fight against long-term conditions such as obesity, cardiovascular disease and type two diabetes is an absolutely crucial one - one we are currently losing.

When it comes to reducing the risk of these conditions, the food we put into our bodies is something each and every one of us is responsible for. Yet individual responsibility is not enough: indeed there is some evidence that obesity is partly mediated through an addictive process. It's therefore imperative that scientists, policy makers and governments also empower individuals to make behavioural changes happen on a large scale. The advice we give about food and diet is as powerful as any medicine - it can do significant harm if we don't get it right.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/dr-paul-zollingerread/sugar-fat-carbs_b_4161529.html?utm_hp_ref=uk-diet-and-fitness

 

What Does Your Fridge Say About You?

To some, it is a food shrine, packed with nutritional and tasty goodies.

To others, however, the fridge is to be opened only as a last resort if no takeaway shop or restaurant is within reach.

Our choice of contents says a lot about our personalities, according to researchers, and can even give clues to what jobs we do.They pinpointed five main groups of users based on what was chilling on the shelves.

Nutrition nerdsAt one extreme is the nutrition nerd while at the other is the fast-food fanatic. In between, there are the food faddy, martyr mum and restaurant regular. Nutrition nerds care passionately about what they eat and tend to buy organic food. Prominent in their chillers are bio-yoghurt, free range eggs, mangetout, aubergines and bottled water. These fridge users are highly organised and tend to be in accountancy or law. They are also mostly single.
'If they coupled up, it would be with someone equally nutritionally nerd-like,' said businessman Reuben Isbitsky, who commissioned the study as a marketing exercise.

Fast-food fanaticsFast-food fanatics, however, shun their fridges except as a place to keep left-over takeaways, particularly pizza, with perhaps some bottles of alcopop or white wine. They may also store mayonnaise, tomato sauce and cans of fizzy drink, but just to complement takeaways. Not surprisingly, this group is dominated by the young, with many being university students. Food faddies tend to work in the media or the fashion world. They know all the latest trends and keep plenty of vitamin-enriched juices and diet supplements handy in their fridges. Other goodies inside could include soya milk, goats' cheese, vegetarian sausages and organic chocolate.

Martyr mumsMartyr mums, meanwhile, want to please everyone by buying the best brands for their families. 'They have everything in their fridge,' said Mr Isbitsky. 'They are just trying to keep everyone happy.' The typical contents of a martyr mum's fridge include fish fingers, rump steaks and veggie burgers. Cans of cola and packs of processed cheese could also be squeezed in. The martyr mother could also keep cans of beer and lots of leftovers from meals such as chicken tikka masala and sweet and sour chicken in case anyone fancied a snack.

Restaurant regularsThose defined as restaurant regulars tend to be older professionals or celebrities. Aside from the contents of their fridges - bottled water and ready-made salads for evenings in - the thing they share is being successful. Some 400 people were surveyed for the study this month for marketing firm Timestrip. The company carried out a similar survey in the U.S. but found that Americans were less easy to cate-gorise than Britons. Researchers did, however, find one defining feature of fridges across the Atlantic: they are mostly very big.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-259135/What-does-fridge-say-you.html