Posted on 02/17/2005 12:42:49 PM PST by zarf
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - When it comes to carbohydrates, it's not how much you eat, but which kind, that makes a difference to your bathroom scale, new research shows.
People who are overweight do not appear to eat more carbohydrates overall than people who weigh less, the researchers report in the American Journal of Epidemiology. However, they found that overweight people tend to eat more refined carbohydrates, such as white bread and pasta, which cause a rapid spike in blood sugar.
"Total amount of carbohydrate is not related to body weight," Dr. Yunsheng Ma of the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester told Reuters Health. "It's the type of carbohydrate that's important."
These findings suggest that low-carbohydrate diets, which recommend people cut back on all carbohydrates, are missing the mark, Ma added.
"Carbohydrates are not the enemy," he said in an interview. "But you have to watch the kind of enemy."
Ma explained that refined carbohydrates are often found in processed foods that contain a lot of sugar. This type of carbohydrate has what's called a high glycemic index, meaning it causes a rapid increase in blood sugar. The body stores that sugar in muscle, but if it is not used, it becomes fat, he noted.
In contrast, whole grains, fruits and vegetables have carbohydrates that don't have such high glycemic index, Ma said.
In the report, Ma and his colleagues note that in the last 20 years, the rate of obesity has increased, despite the fact that people are eating less fat. To help investigate the role carbohydrates play in obesity, the researchers measured the height and weight of 572 healthy people, and asked them to regularly report what carbohydrates they ate. Ma's team followed study participants for one year.
They found that people with a higher body mass index -- a measure of weight that factors in height -- tended to eat carbohydrates with a higher glycemic index. The amount of carbohydrates people ate had no influence on body mass index.
"Refined carbohydrates are no good, but the total amount of carbohydrates is okay," Ma noted.
He added that some countries now include a food's glycemic index on the labeling, which can be helpful for people trying to lose weight or deal with diabetes.
SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology, February 15; 2005
Next thing you know, they'll find out that exercise helps...
...who would've thunk it???
But they eat everything! (Just kidding)
Low carb ping
Since I started working out 5 to 6 days a week at the gym and can pretty much eat whatever I want but I also see the same overweight people working out 5 or 6 days a week for the last three years and they haven't lost any weight.
"high glycemic additions to way too many processed foods"
The only way to get around this is to stop eating as much processed food as you can-our family didn't have a problem with overweight, but not eating that stuff just seemed like a healthier way to eat. I've been cooking everything fresh now for several years on a modified Atkins plan and neither of us has gained a pound and my husband, who has always gotten indigestion from certain foods rarely has it now. I can't believe any scientist didn't know there were "bad" and "good" carbs-duh is right...
A friend of mine cured her acid-reflux while on South Beach Diet. Those carbs increase acid apparently.
They probably haven't changed their diet any, and would likely be putting on weight if they didn't work out.
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