Do Diets Matter?

Are low carb diets better than high carb diets in losing weight? Are low carb fad diets useful? A study in the New England Journal of Medicine compared 4 popular diets that varied the amount of carbohydrates, fats and proteins.

The conclusion? As long as you restrict calories, all the diets help you lose weight! In other words, the amount of carbs, relative to protein or fat, was irrelevant.

The results shouldn't come as a surprise. If you cut calories enough, weight loss is inevitable. But remember that we need to view food from not only a nutrient perspective, but also an immune perspective as well as an endocrine perspective. What does that mean?

Food has the ability to initiate a hormone response. The most obvious is the release of insulin. But we need to remember that insulin and cortisol are also related and have effects in regulating the activity of the other. If insulin and cortisol response are not well regulated, we can easily disrupt sex hormone production (estrogen, testosterone, progesterone) due to the biochemical bias toward producing cortisol.

What about the immune model? Food can initiate IgG food allergies in some individuals. This anitbody response can promote inflammatory responses in skin, gut, joints, sinuses and more. I'll admit, the science to understanding the role of IgG food allergies is still in its infancy. But although we may not have the specifics on how IgG food responses work, it is fair to say that these responses are not good for us. Even in the absolute best (albeit improbable) situation, they are not excessively harmful.

Is it fair to think of calorie restricted diets as useful in losing weight no matter the ratio of carbs, proteins and lipids? It would seem to be the case. But let's not make the assumption yet that these diets are all equally healthy for you. They may still have different effects on your body if you look more deeply. Weight loss is only what we see at the surface. There is likely to be more happening underneath with dramatic health implications.