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The carbs hypothesis doesn't really hold up once you look around the world. There are groups of people such as the Hadza and the Mbuti who derive an enormous po

The carbs hypothesis doesn't really hold up once you look around the world. There are groups of people such as the Hadza and the Mbuti who derive an enormous portion of their calories from carbs/sugar and show none of the issues Americans deal with: obesity, insulin resistance, etc.

philip1209 9y ago
From what I've read about these hunter-gatherer societies - they don't have a calorie surplus, and they experience periods of fasting that probably improve their health. In developed countries, I think that the availability of food combined with low satiety from carbohydrates creates a positive feedback loop.
- itchyouch 9y ago
  There's also time-restricted eating. In mouse models, 2 mice with the same bad diet (high sugar, high fat), but one eating during a 12 hour window and another eating any time, the 12-hour window mice staved off conditions like diabetes much longer. So it's not only what we eat, but "when" we eat as well. https://www.foundmyfitness.com/episodes/satchin-panda https://www.foundmyfitness.com/episodes/satchin-panda
toasterlovin 9y ago
I would not underestimate the possibility that different human populations are worse/better adapted to particular diets.
dominotw 9y ago
I am going to hazard guess that they dont' spend their days in front of a computer and evenings on the couch.
HillaryBriss 9y ago
Yes, the long-lived Okinawans eat a pretty large quantity of carbs too. It comes largely from sweet potatoes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okinawa_diet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okinawa_diet
- gascan 9y ago
  Probably worth distinguishing between starch (sweet potatoes, oats, barley, rice) & simple carbs (white bread, candy, soft drinks, etc etc)
  - HillaryBriss 9y ago
    agreed
LMYahooTFY 9y ago
Given that the evidence thus far shows no diet prescription holds up around the world, this is a false dilemma. There's no reason to believe a single diet should hold up around the world.
- darawk 9y ago
  That's a pretty silly perspective. If the idea is that high-carb diets are universally bad, a counter-example falsifies that notion. It may be that high-carb low-exercise lifestyles are bad. But you need to refine your theory to account for the fact that there exist large groups of people with high carb diets who do just fine. You don't just get to dismiss it.
  - LMYahooTFY 9y ago
    What theory? I'm saying that there isn't a universally applicable diet known to human beings as of yet.
    - darawk 9y ago
      I'm not even sure what that statement means. Are you saying that there is no standard effect of a consistent diet on health? That humans eat different stuff? You seemed to be trying to suggest that contrary examples of people eating lots of carbs but not having negative health consequences was somehow irrelevant to this debate.
blacksmith_tb 9y ago
The Hadza are also often held up as having one of the most diverse microbiomes of any living human population[1]. 1: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24736369 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24736369

philip1209 9y ago

From what I've read about these hunter-gatherer societies - they don't have a calorie surplus, and they experience periods of fasting that probably improve their health. In developed countries, I think that the availability of food combined with low satiety from carbohydrates creates a positive feedback loop.

itchyouch 9y ago
There's also time-restricted eating. In mouse models, 2 mice with the same bad diet (high sugar, high fat), but one eating during a 12 hour window and another eating any time, the 12-hour window mice staved off conditions like diabetes much longer. So it's not only what we eat, but "when" we eat as well. https://www.foundmyfitness.com/episodes/satchin-panda https://www.foundmyfitness.com/episodes/satchin-panda

toasterlovin 9y ago

I would not underestimate the possibility that different human populations are worse/better adapted to particular diets.

dominotw 9y ago

I am going to hazard guess that they dont' spend their days in front of a computer and evenings on the couch.

HillaryBriss 9y ago

Yes, the long-lived Okinawans eat a pretty large quantity of carbs too. It comes largely from sweet potatoes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okinawa_diet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okinawa_diet

gascan 9y ago
Probably worth distinguishing between starch (sweet potatoes, oats, barley, rice) & simple carbs (white bread, candy, soft drinks, etc etc)
- HillaryBriss 9y ago
  agreed

LMYahooTFY 9y ago

Given that the evidence thus far shows no diet prescription holds up around the world, this is a false dilemma. There's no reason to believe a single diet should hold up around the world.

darawk 9y ago
That's a pretty silly perspective. If the idea is that high-carb diets are universally bad, a counter-example falsifies that notion. It may be that high-carb low-exercise lifestyles are bad. But you need to refine your theory to account for the fact that there exist large groups of people with high carb diets who do just fine. You don't just get to dismiss it.
- LMYahooTFY 9y ago
  What theory? I'm saying that there isn't a universally applicable diet known to human beings as of yet.
  - darawk 9y ago
    I'm not even sure what that statement means. Are you saying that there is no standard effect of a consistent diet on health? That humans eat different stuff? You seemed to be trying to suggest that contrary examples of people eating lots of carbs but not having negative health consequences was somehow irrelevant to this debate.

blacksmith_tb 9y ago

The Hadza are also often held up as having one of the most diverse microbiomes of any living human population[1]. 1: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24736369 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24736369