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Bad headline. Here's the important paragraph: > Taubes says the fundraising trip to Zurich went well, though he won’t share specifics. It could just be the jet

Bad headline. Here's the important paragraph: > Taubes says the fundraising trip to Zurich went well, though he won’t share specifics. It could just be the jet lag, or it could be the mental burden of having to sing for his supper, but Taubes sounds tired. “I say this to my wife all the time: ‘Maybe I’m a quack.’ All quacks are sure they’re right. Isn’t that the defining characteristic of a quack? But the fact is that we funded four studies and the three randomized trials were highly successful operationally. One of these has been published in a top journal with interesting results and I remain hopeful that we will soon see if the last two studies will move some needles. Our convictions have gotten us this far, and despite some disappointments these questions still seem vitally important to test.” The article basically says the team fell apart and the original donations got closed down because of this. Doesn't actually talk much about the studies themselves.

gxs 8y ago
Thanks for this comment. It's a nice example of how how to think critically as you read an article - even a decent quality article. To your point - I agree. Taubes is a technical guy - I've read a couple of his books and I think there is a lot of truth to what he says, just maybe one of those situations where it's not the whole truth in a horizontal way.
everdev 8y ago
Actually, it does. In the process of trying to get the study participants to a baseline by feeding them a 4 week "control diet", they all lost weight before they even got to the low-carb diet. The theory that calories from sugar produces more weight gain than the same number of calories from any other source (veggies, meat, etc.) still hasn't been proven. But, I think the idea that calories from sugar are less filling, and therefore promote over-eating is pretty established. > The EBC’s pilot project would lock 17 overweight men inside metabolic wards for two months, feeding them precisely formulated meals and pricking and prodding to see what happened to their bodies on a low-carb diet. > The data showed “no significant difference” in energy expenditure. > Taubes in particular had issues with many of the study’s designs, which fed participants a “standard American diet” for four weeks before switching them to an extremely low-carb, or ketogenic, regimen with the same amount of calories. It was supposed to get them to a stable weight, or energy balance, to establish a baseline before going keto. But the subjects all lost weight even before they started cutting out carbs. Taubes contended that was because the standard diet didn’t have enough refined sugary beverages to depict average American consumption.

gxs 8y ago

Thanks for this comment. It's a nice example of how how to think critically as you read an article - even a decent quality article. To your point - I agree. Taubes is a technical guy - I've read a couple of his books and I think there is a lot of truth to what he says, just maybe one of those situations where it's not the whole truth in a horizontal way.

everdev 8y ago

Actually, it does. In the process of trying to get the study participants to a baseline by feeding them a 4 week "control diet", they all lost weight before they even got to the low-carb diet. The theory that calories from sugar produces more weight gain than the same number of calories from any other source (veggies, meat, etc.) still hasn't been proven. But, I think the idea that calories from sugar are less filling, and therefore promote over-eating is pretty established. > The EBC’s pilot project would lock 17 overweight men inside metabolic wards for two months, feeding them precisely formulated meals and pricking and prodding to see what happened to their bodies on a low-carb diet. > The data showed “no significant difference” in energy expenditure. > Taubes in particular had issues with many of the study’s designs, which fed participants a “standard American diet” for four weeks before switching them to an extremely low-carb, or ketogenic, regimen with the same amount of calories. It was supposed to get them to a stable weight, or energy balance, to establish a baseline before going keto. But the subjects all lost weight even before they started cutting out carbs. Taubes contended that was because the standard diet didn’t have enough refined sugary beverages to depict average American consumption.