Why current efforts to fight obesity may not be working

With obesity linked to so many serious illnesses like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers, scientists and researchers are coming together at the Metabolism, Diet and Disease conference to explore how basic research could potentially fight the epidemic. Which got me thinking about current efforts – are they not cutting it?

It’s encouraging to see so many new programs aimed at fighting obesity like the Let’s Move campaign and healthier options at restaurants. But are they really working?

Gary Taubes, Independent Investigator at the University of California Berkeley and a speaker at the conference gives FatFighterTV his take.

The official wisdom on this is that these efforts are failing because the current environment simply makes it too difficult for people to do what’s necessary — eat less and get more physical activity. The food industry makes too much food available, portion sizes in restaurants are too large, and we don’t have enough motivation and opportunity to be physically active.

I would argue, speaking for myself and not necessarily any of the other speakers at the conference, that the current efforts are failing because they fail to address the fundamental cause of the problem based on a misconception of the cause. In other words, obesity is not a disorder of energy balance (merely consuming more calories than expended) but a hormonal/enzymatic defect, just like any other growth disorder, and the prime suspect in causing that defect is and should be the quantity and quality of carbohydrates in the diet — specifically, the refined grains and sugars.

If that perspective is taken, the solution to obesity and the obesity epidemic is not trying to move more and eat less but to restrict, severely if necessary, the consumption of refined and easily digestible carbohydrates and sugars. These foods have to be singled out as the cause of obesity and its associated chronic diseases just as we singled out tobacco and cigarette smoking as a cause of lung cancer. To reiterate, though, this is my opinion.

Interesting take, isn’t it? It’s come up before – over here when the issue of regulating sugar came up. The conference will address this issue indirectly by discussing the link between obesity and cancer and diabetes. I look forward to hearing more of that conversation.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. Egg Beaters 100% Egg Whites compensated me to write it. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe my audience will like.