You never know what subjects will be the topic of conversation during meetings of the 9:59 Club[1]. From The Three Stooges to quantum physics, you just can’t guess what we’ll be talking about on any given day.
Last week Big Mike and I were chatting about food and nutrition. Mike has a background in the healthcare industry and is familiar with many medical topics (and quantum physics). We chatted about the Food Pyramid that puts carbohydrates at the base. From a dietary standpoint, the pyramid appears inverted to us.
This seems especially true considering that the original dietary recommendation from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), called the Basic Seven, looked like this:
Note that the sixth of the seven items in the Basic Seven is the carbohydrate category, not the first.
Originally conceived by the World Health Organization, the USDA food pyramid evolved from the Basic Seven, except that the pyramid became inverted, placing processed carbohydrates at the bottom and meats and dairy near the top. The idea being that we should have more servings of carbohydrates and less fatty meats and dairy in our diets.
Suddenly breakfast went from bacon, eggs and toast to Fruity Pebbles and Frosted Flakes cereal.
And this was the basis for the chat that Mike and I had. We noticed that when you stop at a Seven-Eleven or Wawa for a snack, what do they sell? Carbohydrates. If you’re looking for protein about all you can get is a power bar or beef jerky. Everything else is potato chips, cookies and candy. The same is true when you do your grocery shopping. Cookies, crackers, chips, sugary beverages, and ice cream abound.
We attributed the supersizing of America to this plethora of bad dietary choices.
But then I saw this story: A Heretic’s View: Blaming Food for Obesity is Like Blaming Water for Drowning. The author, Edward Archer, claims that “for more than 50 years, ‘Diet-centrism’ — the theory that foods and beverages cause ill-health, obesity, and cardiometabolic diseases — has been accepted by physicians, researchers, and the public almost without question. Yet despite the unity and ubiquity of the consensus, there are centuries of evidence refuting diet-centric beliefs.”
According to Mr. Archer, before the 20th century, obesity and cardiometabolic diseases such as type-2 diabetes were uncommon. “Yet over the past 50 years, the prevalence of these maladies in humans, horses, dogs, cats, lab, and zoo animals increased to epidemic proportions. Given that these herbivores, omnivores, and carnivores have always consumed different diets, the claim that foods and beverages have suddenly caused parallel epidemics in different species is an extraordinary claim that requires extraordinary evidence. Yet there is no valid evidence supporting this belief.”
Mr. Archer cites several facts that seem to refute current dietary thinking:
Beginning in 4000-8000 BC, humans have consumed highly palatable, ‘ultra-processed’ foods and beverages, including refined sugar, salt, butter, and cheeses.
Pasta, pizza, and pretzels have been consumed since the 1st century AD.
Although the consumption of ‘french-fries’ began in the 17th century, potatoes fried in salt and animal fat quickly became the main source of nutrition in Ireland. By the 19th century, the Irish consumed 4-5 lbs. of potatoes per person per day, with men consuming 8-12 lbs./day. This is the equivalent of 40 supersized servings of ‘french-fries’ every day. Yet despite consuming massive amounts of ‘carbs’, saturated fats, and salt, the Irish had little obesity or cardiometabolic diseases.
The Amish consume a high-calorie diet that includes meat, potatoes, gravy, eggs, breads, pies, and cakes, and is quite high in fat and refined sugar. Yet the Amish have a greater life expectancy and substantially lower obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer than other Americans.
Ok so, to what does Mr. Archer attribute our current cardiometabolic disease epidemic?
Metabolism.
“Muscular, male athletes consume more calories, ‘carbs’, sugars, salt, fat, cholesterol, and ‘ultra-processed’ foods than obese, sedentary women, yet have lower levels of adiposity and [type 2 diabetes]. Thus, more foods, beverages, and physical activity are linked with better health and less disease. Clearly, athletes’ bodies ‘handle’ their diets differently than those of sedentary people. Therefore, metabolism — not diet — is the ‘difference that makes a difference’ in health.”
It has been found that the widely-used test for diabetes and insulin resistance is positively affected when the patient has a stronger metabolism. Also, different foods cause different responses in the metabolism. For example, consuming sugar or starch causes greater increases in blood sugar than consuming fat or protein.
Yet most importantly, as a recent intensive food-as-medicine program showed, altering your diet has little effect on cardiometabolic health over time, whereas adequate physical activity obliterates the deleterious effects of a high-caloric intake. This explains why muscular athletes can consume massive amounts of calories, ‘carbs’, and ‘ultra-processed’ foods yet remain lean and healthy.
According to Mr. Archer, “If people perform hard physical labor, they will consume more food, water, and oxygen than if they sat quietly in an office. Therefore, increased physical activity causes increases in metabolism that in turn cause increases in consumption (eating, drinking, and breathing). Therefore, if you ‘burn’ more calories through physical activity, you increase your metabolic strength, consume more calories, and maintain your weight. This fact explains why exercise rarely leads to weight-loss but is essential in health and preventing weight gain.
“Conversely, when people reduce their physical activity ‘too much’, they weaken their metabolism. This causes them to consume more calories than they burn. In time, this leads to ‘acquired’ obesity and cardiometabolic diseases independent of diet. In other words, a minimum amount of physical activity is needed for health, and individuals with extremely low levels will, over time, become obese, diabetic, or both, regardless of the foods and beverages they consume.”
Mr. Archer concludes: “…‘acquired’ and ‘inherited’ differences in metabolism — not diet — cause obesity and poor metabolic health.”
So, I guess this means I can continue with my beer regimen as long as I keep up my metabolism. Perhaps elbow bending counts as exercise?
[1] The 9:59 Club was formed many years ago. Anyone can be a member (except yukky girls!); you just have to hang around and tolerate a bunch of old guys. Since Bethany Beach begins charging to park at 10 AM in season we’re sure to vacate the municipal lot by 9:59. Hence the name.
Long read, that leaves me fat because I should have been exercising, not reading yet another reason for being overweight . People like me and you always had a problem with weight in our older days. I wish someone would tell me the right answer,