The Atkins hyperinsulinemia theory, ex-plained Taubes, is that carbohydrates can "cause a spike of blood sugar and a surge of insulin within minutes. The resulting rush of insulin stores the blood sugar away and a few hours later, your blood sugar is lower than it was before you ate." The brain receives a signal that the body needs more food, and the vicious circle repeats itself. Carbohydrates at the top of what's called the "hypoglycemic index" are the most evil of the evil, since they cause blood sugar to rise the fastest. The index ranks potatoes as slightly worse than jelly beans.
For support, Taubes once again fell back on "Endocrinology 101." David Ludwig "notes that when diabetics get too much insulin, their blood sugar drops and they get ravenously hungry," wrote Taubes. "They gain weight because they eat more, and the insulin promotes fat deposition." But according to Seeley, this applies to diabetics injecting massive amounts of insulin into the bloodstream, not to carbohydrate consumers.
"Yes," Seeley says, "if you give people a big wallop of insulin they do eat a lot, but do people under normal circumstances ever get close to that by eating? No. Is it possible that some people are that reactive? Yes. Is it likely that lots of people fall into that category? No."
Taubes presented University of Washington endocrinologist Michael Schwartz, whom he had interviewed, as a proponent of the idea that blood insulin levels as altered by carbohydrates could be a significant contributor to weight gain. But a commentary in the same magazine Taubes writes for, Science, sharply contradicted that position. "Although the concept that insulin triggers weight gain has little scientific merit, it remains a key selling point for advocates of diets that are low in carbohydrate and high in protein and fat," it read. "If hyperinsulinemia has adverse consequences, obesity does not appear to be among them," it concluded. Who wrote that? Michael Schwartz.
Indeed, Schwartz was also the primary author of a study concluding that obese people whose systems secrete insulin at high levels may be protected against further weight gain. "Relatively reduced insulin secretion," he concluded, "is a significant and independent predictor of the tendency to gain weight and adiposity in Pima Indians."
The Pima in Arizona have been the focus of a tremendous amount of research because even by American standards they are incredibly obese and suffer horrific rates of diabetes and heart disease. Comparisons of the Arizona Pima with genetically similar Pima in Mexico find that the Arizonans eat about twice as much fat (although the Mexicans also do far more manual labor) and are almost 60 pounds heavier on average. A National Institutes of Health evaluation of the traditional Pima diet (that is, back when they were thin and healthy) found that it was extremely high in carbohydrates, from 70 percent to 80 percent.
Schwartz says it's not that he believes insulin can't play a role in promoting weight gain, but he rejects "Endocrinology 101" based on what he calls "Scientific Methodology 101." "Before you draw conclusions you need data," he says. "There is no compelling evidence that in normal individuals day-to-day fluctuations of the blood glucose level are an important determinant of how much food is consumed."
The Diet Revolution That Isn't
Two distinct controversies have always swirled around the Atkins diet. First, is it effective for long-term weight loss? Second, could those using it be harming themselves by raising their blood lipids (cholesterol and trigylcerides)? The five unpublished abstracts do seem to indicate that for people who manage to stick to a high-fat Atkins diet, it may not be as harmful as was once generally believed. But this finding is quite preliminary and in any case certainly must depend greatly on which types of fat are consumed.
This is a distinction Taubes decided to lose.
Thus he quoted or invoked the name of the chairman of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, Walter Willett, seven times during his piece. Willett protests, however, that "I told Taubes several times that red meat is associated with higher risk of colon and possibly prostate cancer, but he left that out." And don't forget the illustration on the cover of The New York Times Magazine; that wasn't a flounder with heart-healthy flaxseed oil sitting on top of it.
Taubes also told readers that a metabolic process called ketosis, often invoked to show the Atkins diet could be dangerous, was quite harmless, providing reassuring words from National Institutes of Health researcher Richard Veech that "ketosis is a normal physiologic state." Veech told me by e-mail that the quote was correct, but that Taubes "omitted to say that I strongly urged people to not use the Atkins diet without the supervision of a physician because of the likely elevation of blood cholesterol and lipid on a high fat diet." But you don't have an impact if you insist that a fad diet be supervised by a doctor.
There's nothing "revolutionary" about the Atkins diet. A similar diet appeared in an 1863 booklet by a British undertaker named William Banting, who got the idea from a surgeon. It has popped up in various guises ever since, including a 1946 book extolling the virtues of eating whale blubber, and a 1958 book, Eat Fat and Grow Slim, written by a psychiatrist.
Likewise, there has long been convincing evidence that the diet fails to live up to its claims. Taubes wrote that "when the American Medical Association (AMA) released its scathing critique of Atkins' diet in March 1973, it acknowledged that the diet probably worked but expressed little interest in why."
The heavily endnoted document, which appeared in the June 4, 1973, issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association but unfortunately is not available on the Internet even in abstract form, was indeed scathing. But the rest of Taubes' description is false.
Editor's Note: We invite comments and request that they be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of Reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment for any reason at any time.
|10.22.09 @ 3:57PM|#
Having read all three pieces in this debate, Fumento's critique of Taubes is so wholly inadequate I feel embarassed for him, and disappointed that Reason didn't vet Fumento seriously before publishing his original critique of Taubes. Taubes' position is increasingly permeating the research community and will likely be vindicated, leaving Fumento's piece as an embarassing example of Reason failing its mandate to provide critical analysis of contemporary debates. Reason's standards should be higher than merely being a forum for dissent -- you should have some standards for the dissent, and recognize dogmatic clinging to establishment thinking when you see it. The sooner the Lipid Hypothesis dies and refined carbs are recognized for their negative health effects the better the health of the world. We owe Taubes a serious debt of thanks for his integtrity and iconoclastic pursuit of reason. He shouldn't have had to offer this defense, likely only read by a fraction of those who read the original critique.
|7.10.10 @ 6:41PM|#
Taubes responds to this (google Taubes response to Fumento) and it's pretty devastating. I love Taubes, he's awesome. Read his Good Calories Bad Calories
TT, R.D.|3.24.11 @ 7:54PM|#
Ya, he has no education in nutrition or medicine, so let's put faith in his writing. Until you do, you have no idea how strenuous and rigorous the education truly is. For example, "his low carb diet will reduce headaches." Interesting. Since glucose is a necessity to the and astrocytes at the blood brain barrier are selective in allowing substances to pass into the cerebral cortex, I find that extremely hard to believe. Read a textbook one time, not a BS journalists made up science.
|5.6.11 @ 4:08AM|#
Did you read his book? I wonder, as a registered dietician (presumably that is what R.D. stands for in your handle) are you just a little worried that you might be responsible for promoting faulty dietary advice--we tend to defend practice which we become dependent upon for our livelihood. I'm just sayin'...
|5.11.11 @ 9:26PM|#
In other words, you have nothing with which to debunk the dietician, so you try to slander him instead? Nice. Not.
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|2.8.11 @ 3:04AM|#
Interesting how low carb "doesn't work" considering I lost over 120 lbs in 8 months after only being able to lose (at most) a handful of lbs on low fat. I've kept it off for nearly 7 years now. My cholesterol, blood pressure and A1c all dropped to textbook levels on it. And BTW, why would I care how "original" a diet is if it works to make me healthier?
|2.8.11 @ 11:27AM|#
Fumento quotes Seeley, "If you're only allowed to shop in two aisles of the grocery store, does it matter which two they are?" Wouldn't it matter to you which two you eat from exclusively?
Two aisles: "HBA" and "Paper Products."
Two aisles: "Candies" and "Pastries."
Two aisles: "Meats" and "Produce."
|5.6.11 @ 4:01AM|#
Amazing. The arguments against Taubes' conclusions are no more than continued repudiations based on the very faulty assumptions Taubes refutes in his book. Naysayers cite the seemingly sensible but scientifically weak arguments which have caused the spike in overweight, obesity, and disease. Remember Galileo? I hear he had this funny idea (not completely original) about the Sun. You see, it might look light it rises and sets, moving around the earth, but in truth we had it backward. Our observations were limited by our presumptions and assumptions. Hear it didn't go to well for ol' Galileo, but the rest of us have benefitted immeasurably because other scientists had the humility and curiosity to pursue study which had already resulted in exile and denunciation. Seems the more things change the more they stay the same.
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|8.31.11 @ 4:00PM|#
Having read the dodging and weaving of Taubes' "response" slander, and juxtaposing this against Guyenet's recent analysis of the moneybags cherry picker's conclusions, it's hard for me to read a comment calling Taubes "awesome" because of the tears of laughter in my eyes. What seems awesome to me is the amount of money Knopf paid for this hill of beans. Er, pork rinds.
Karl jones|9.28.11 @ 12:47PM|#
Shame I didn't read this tripe earlier I'd have saved myself the easiest time loosing 80 pounds, dropping my blood pressure, looking ten years younger, and a six pack to boot. Lets cut the crap, low carb is right.
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