The debate between fat and carbohydrates causing obesity continues till this day. Recent studies today link fat with weight gain, while in the past decade, carbohydrates has clearly been the culprit. It is difficult to throw your hat in the ring without being shot down by someone with a different view on the subject. Of course, this could all be explained with simple calories in vs. calories out, right?
Sustainable Weight Loss
Decreasing calories or increasing expenditure can likely lead to weight loss; however, it may not be sustainable, healthy or the weight lost may also include a good amount of muscle.
Therefore, actual sustainability across a mass population is more complex!
The trouble with scientific studies is that often they are not read BUT the media outlets tend to cherry pick what they want from a study to make a headline, such as “NEW STUDY FINDS THAT FAT MAKES YOU FAT”. It doesn’t say that the study is done on rats and not humans and that it is done by increasing the overall calorie intake, or that the numbers are so small that it is not significant, etc.
So What Really Makes Us Fat?
In reality, only a few key factors will cause us to gain weight and get fat, such as:
- A lack of physical activity
- Calorie surplus
- A calorie surplus of the wrong foods
We will take a closer look at the third reason soon as it is related to the topic of fat vs. carbs. The 3 factors above are the most important as they can be influenced by the following aspects which can make gaining fat a lot easier and losing it a lot harder:
- Hormonal disorders
- Genetic disorders
- General genetic influence
- Psychological problems
- Environmental pressures
- Injury and Illness (preventing physical activity)
There Are Many Types of Carbs
We’re deviating from the subject a little as it is important to highlight the actual causes of weight gain before delving into the topic of carbs and fat. Before we talk about carbs and fat, it is worth noting that carbs can come in many forms.
Carbs are often divided into simple or complex carbs but it could be the same for fibre, sugar and starch. The chemical compositions differ again with many forms of sugars such as glucose, lactose, maltose, galactose, fructose, and sucrose.
The same can be said for fat which are either trans-fat, saturated or unsaturated fats with the latter splitting further into monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.
Therefore, by saying fat causes fat in a headline may make the majority believe that all fats are bad and if they state carbohydrates cause people to get fat, people may forgo vital fibre intake altogether.
Do Fats or Carbohydrates Cause Fat Gain?
It is easy to assume that a surplus of calories will cause weight gain and therefore reducing this will cause a weight loss. Simple mathematics, right?
The source of calorie surplus may be just as important and this is where the question of fat and carbohydrates comes in. In general, however, when carbohydrates are talked about, it is referring to sugars, and fats often mean saturated fats.
How Muhdo Is Helping
Muhdo has been conducting its own research in the area and will soon be publishing a paper outlining their results.
Preliminary findings show that maintaining the same calorie count while increasing unsaturated fat intake and decreasing sugar intake from all sources may cause weight loss in some, even if expenditure remains the same. The people with the results of this finding may have correlating gene variants and this is what the research focuses on.
In general, the argument is not whether carbs or fats cause weight gain, but rather what diet should apply to a person who doesn’t count calories, exercise often or understand the science of nutrition. A diet and/or lifestyle that is easily maintained with few hardships but allows for a healthy weight to be maintained is crucial to the overall control of obesity.