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Washington [US]—A new studyhas claimed that overeating isn’t the main cause of obesity. Instead, much of the blame for the current obesity epidemic lies on modern dietary patterns characterised by excessive consumption of foods with a high glycemic load: in particular, processed, rapidly digestible carbohydrates.
These foods cause hormonal responses that fundamentally change our metabolism, driving fat storage, weight gain, and obesity.
The findings of the study were published in ‘The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition’.
Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that obesity affects more than 40 per cent of American adults, placing them at higher risk for heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer.
The USDA’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020 – 2025 further tells us that losing weight “requires adults to reduce the number of calories they get from foods and beverages and increase the amount expended through physical activity.”
This approach to weight management is based on the century-old energy balance model which states that weight gain is caused by consuming more energy than we expend.
In today’s world, surrounded by highly palatable, heavily marketed, cheap processed foods, it’s easy for people to eat more calories than they need, an imbalance that is further exacerbated by today’s sedentary lifestyles.
By this thinking, overeating, coupled with insufficient physical activity, is driving the obesity epidemic.
On the other hand, despite decades of public health messaging exhorting people to eat less and exercise more, rates of obesity and obesity-related diseases have steadily risen.
The study points to fundamental flaws in the energy balance model, arguing that an alternate model, the carbohydrate-insulin model, better explains obesity and weight gain. Moreover, the carbohydrate-insulin model points the way to more effective, long-lasting weight management strategies.
According to lead author Dr David Ludwig, Endocrinologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and Professor at Harvard Medical School, the energy balance model doesn’t help us understand the biological causes of weight gain: “During a growth spurt, for instance, adolescents may increase food intake by 1,000 calories a day. But does their overeating cause the growth spurt or does the growth spurt cause the adolescent to get hungry and overeat?”
In contrast to the energy balance model, the carbohydrate-insulin model makes a bold claim: overeating isn’t the main cause of obesity.
Instead, the carbohydrate-insulin model lays much of the blame for the current obesity epidemic on modern dietary patterns characterised by excessive consumption of foods with a high glycemic load: in particular, processed, rapidly digestible carbohydrates.

When we eat highly processed carbohydrates, the body increases insulin secretion and suppresses glucagon secretion.
This, in turn, signals fat cells to store more calories, leaving fewer calories available to fuel muscles and other metabolically active tissues.
The brain perceives that the body isn’t getting enough energy, which, in turn, leads to feelings of hunger.
In addition, metabolism may slow down in the body’s attempt to conserve fuel. Thus, we tend to remain hungry, even as we continue to gain excess fat.
To understand the obesity epidemic, we need to consider not only how much we’re eating, but also how the foods we eat affect our hormones and metabolism.
With its assertion that all calories are alike to the body, the energy balance model misses this critical piece of the puzzle.
While the carbohydrate-insulin model is not new–its origins date to the early 1900s–The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition perspective is the most comprehensive formulation of this model to date, authored by a team of 17 internationally recognised scientists, clinical researchers, and public health experts.
Collectively, they have summarised the growing body of evidence in support of the carbohydrate-insulin model.
Moreover, the authors have identified a series of testable hypotheses that distinguish the two models to guide future research.
Adoption of the carbohydrate-insulin model over the energy-balance model has radical implications for weight management and obesity treatment.
Rather than urge people to eat less, a strategy that usually doesn’t work in the long run, the carbohydrate-insulin model suggests another path that focuses more on what we eat.
According to Dr Ludwig, “reducing consumption of the rapidly digestible carbohydrates that flooded the food supply during the low-fat diet era lessens the underlying drive to store body fat. As a result, people may lose weight with less hunger and struggle.”
The authors acknowledge that further research is needed to conclusively test both models and, perhaps, to generate new models that better fit the evidence.
Toward this end, they call for constructive discourse and “collaborations among scientists with diverse viewpoints to test predictions in rigorous and unbiased research.” (ANI)

Turku, Finland — In a Finnish collaborative study of Turku PET Centre and UKK institute, the researchers noticed that standing is associated with better insulin sensitivity. Increasing the daily standing time may therefore help prevent chronic diseases.
The findings of the study were published in the ‘Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport’.
Insulin is a key hormone in energy metabolism and blood sugar regulation. Normal insulin function in the body may be disturbed by e.g. overweight, leading to decreased insulin sensitivity and increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
Type 2 diabetes is one the most common lifestyle diseases worldwide, and its onset is usually preceded by impaired insulin sensitivity, i.e. insulin resistance.
This refers to a state in which the body does not react to insulin normally, and the blood glucose levels rise.
Lifestyle has a strong impact on insulin resistance and the development of type 2 diabetes, and regular physical activity is known to have an important role in the prevention of these issues.
However, so far, little is known about the impact of sedentary behaviour, breaks in sitting and standingon insulin resistance.
In a study of Turku PET Centre and UKK institute, the researchers investigated the associations between insulin resistance and sedentary behaviour, physical activity and fitness in inactive working-age adults with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

In the study, the researchers observed that standingis associated with better insulin sensitivity independently of the amount of daily physical activity or sitting time, fitness level, or overweight.
“This association has not been shown before. These findings further encourage replacing a part of daily sitting time with standing, especially if physical activity recommendations are not met,” said Doctoral Candidate Taru Garthwaite from the University of Turku.
Body Composition Strongly Associated with Insulin Sensitivity
The study also emphasises the importance of healthy body composition on metabolic health. The results show that increased body fat percentage was a more important factor in terms of insulin sensitivity than physical activity, fitness, or the amount of time spent sitting.
Standing, on the other hand, was associated with insulin sensitivity independently, irrespective of body composition.
“Regular exercise is well known to be beneficial for health. It seems that physical activity, fitness, and sedentary behaviour are also connected to insulin metabolism, but indirectly, through their effect on body composition,” Taru Garthwaite explained.
Causal effects cannot yet be predicted based on this study, but according to Garthwaite, the results suggest that increasing daily standing time may help in the prevention of lifestyle diseases if physical activity recommendations are not met.
Next, the researchers aim to investigate how changes in daily activity and sedentariness impact cardiovascular and metabolic disease risk factors and metabolism by comparing two groups in an intervention study of a longer duration.
“Our aim is to study if reducing daily sitting time by an hour has an impact on energy metabolism and fat accumulation in the liver and the whole body, for example, in addition to insulin sensitivity and blood sugar regulation,” said Garthwaite. (ANI)

Kabul, UN News — George Laryea-Adjei, Regional Director for UNICEFSouth Asia, said children have paid the heaviest price in recent weeks of increased conflict and insecurity.

Not only have some been forced from their homes, and cut off from their schools and friends, they have also been deprived of basic healthcare that can protect them against polio, tetanus and other diseases.

“Now, with a security crisis, skyrocketing food prices, a severe drought, the spread of COVID-19, and another harsh winter just around the corner, children are at greater risk than ever,” he warned.

Malnutrition threat looms

UNICEF has predicted that if the current trend continues, one million under-fives in Afghanistan will face severe acute malnutrition, a life-threatening condition.

Mr. Laryea-Adjei said more than four million children, including 2.2 million girls, are out of school, UN News writes.

Around 300,000 youngsters have been forced to flee their homes, some of whom were in bed sleeping,“and too many of them have witnessed scenes that no child should ever see”, he said.

“Children and adolescents are struggling with anxieties and fears, in desperate need of mental health support,” he added.

Step up support

With some humanitarian partners considering cutting aid to Afghanistan, Mr. Laryea-Adjei voiced concern over having enough resources to keep health centres up and running, schools open, and services available to treat severely malnourished children.

UNICEF, which has been in Afghanistan for more than six decades, continues to maintain a field presence across the country, and is engaging with interlocutors to scale up response.

The agency is currently supporting mobile health and nutrition teams at camps for displaced people, and setting up child-friendly spaces, nutrition hubs and vaccination sites, while also prepositioning additional lifesaving supplies and supporting thousands of students in community-based education classes.

However, Mr. Laryea-Adjei stressed that more resources are direly needed. UNICEF recently launched a $192 million appeal to address the escalating humanitarian crisis, and urged donors to step up support.

“Young people and children have been telling us they are in desperate need of the most basic items and services – needs which, given support, the humanitarian community can easily respond to,” he said.

“The needs of the children of Afghanistan have never been greater. We cannot abandon them now.”