Two huge new studies further undermine the "obesity paradox"

The "obesity paradox" is the observation that people with higher fat mass sometimes have better health outcomes than lean people, including a lower overall risk of death.  Evidence has been steadily mounting that this finding may be a misleading artifact of the methods used to observe it.  Two massive new studies add to this evidence.

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A Serious Challenge to the 2012 Low-carbohydrate "Metabolic Advantage" Study

Warning: this post will be a bit more wonkish than usual, because I need to get detailed to make my points.  To read a summary, skip to the end.

In 2012, David Ludwig's group published an interesting RCT that suggested a substantial "metabolic advantage" resulting from a high-protein, very-low-carbohydrate diet (VLC) (1).  In other words, this diet led to a higher energy expenditure relative to a normal-protein, low-fat diet (LF) over a one month period (a low-glycemic-load, normal-protein diet was in the middle and not significantly different from the other two).  Resting energy expenditure (REE) was slightly but significantly higher on the VLC diet, and total energy expenditure (TEE) was elevated by a whopping 300+ kcal/day!  I covered the study at the time, describing it as "fascinating" and "groundbreaking", and calling for the study to be replicated so we can be more confident in its unexpected result (2).

This finding has been used by Ludwig, Gary Taubes, and others to support the carbohydrate-insulin hypothesis of obesity, although there is no evidence that the effect was mediated by insulin, and also no evidence that it was mediated by reduced carbohydrate rather than increased protein (3).

Since I published that post, my confidence in the finding-- and particularly the common interpretation of it that reducing carbohydrate intake to a very low level increases REE and TEE-- has gradually been eroding.  This is partially because other studies have generally reported that the carbohydrate:fat ratio of the diet has little or no effect on REE, TEE, or fat storage (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10).

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Why some dogs (and humans) are born hungry

The brain is the central regulator of appetite and body fatness, and genetic variation that affects body fatness tends to act in the brain.  One important site of variation is the POMC gene, which codes for a signaling molecule that suppresses food intake.  A new study shows that Labrador retrievers often carry an inactive version of the POMC gene, causing them to be highly food motivated, obesity-prone-- and perhaps more easily trainable. 

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My Recent Paper on Linoleic Acid in Adipose Tissue

Linoleic acid (LA) is the predominant polyunsaturated fat in the human diet, and it's most concentrated in seed oils such as corn oil.  LA accumulates in fat tissue, and as with many of the nutrients we eat, it is biologically active.  In a new paper, we systematically review the studies that have measured the LA concentration of fat tissue in US adults over time.  We show that the LA concentration of fat tissue has increased by approximately 136 percent over the last half century.

Susan Carlson, PhD

In 2011, I posted a graph on my blog in which I summarized some of the studies that have measured the LA content of fat tissue in US adults over time (1).  It showed a remarkably consistent upward trend.  Last year, a University of Kansas nutrition researcher named Susan Carlson contacted me and asked if I had published my findings in a scientific journal, because she wanted to cite the trend in one of her papers.  I said I hadn't published them, but that I would love to do so together.

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Invincible Coffee: The Next Evolution of Joe

Warning -- Satire -- old April Fools post!

You've heard of Bulletproof Coffee, that mixture of coffee and butter that keeps you lean and supercharges your mental focus.

The problem with Bulletproof Coffee is that the butter forms a greasy oil slick on top of your coffee.  Yuck!  Is there any way to rescue Bulletproof Coffee?

Enter Invincible Coffee, the next evolution of Joe.

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A Free Issue of Examine.com Research Digest

Examine.com is a website that provides unbiased information on supplements and nutrition.  They publish the Examine.com Research Digest (ERD), which reviews the latest studies in these areas.  I like ERD because it does a nice job of curating recent science, making it understandable and engaging for a broad audience, and explaining important background information.  They have no conflicts of interest because they don't sell anything except information.  I've been a scientific reviewer for ERD since the beginning.

Examine.com is celebrating its fifth anniversary today.  To celebrate, they offered to put together a custom issue of ERD using five of my favorite articles.  I chose articles I thought my audience would enjoy.  You can download your free copy here (PDF).

If you like it and decide you want to sign up for ERD, there is a link in the PDF, or you can visit this page.  They're having a sale today, so if you're thinking about joining, today is a good choice.  If you purchase through the links I provided, you'll be supporting Whole Health Source at no extra cost to yourself.

If you already have ERD, let me know how you like it in the comments.

Windows 10 Spying Concerns: Are They Still Viable?

When Windows 10 first launched many users quick to flock to the new operating system as they were in a hurry to get away from Windows 8. However, a lot of those users became unsure of Windows 10 when reports started coming in that the operating system was practically spying on everything you did. Some of the reports were completely false while others held some truth but were completely blown out of proportion. With the operating system now available for over 8 months, it's time to take a look at all the concerns people had and whether or not those worries are still relevant today.

Read more about this topic on the ComputerServiceNow Blog!