Read this First…

Re-posting information from a blog post by Dr. Michael Greger, MD at his non-profit website, NutritionFacts.org.

“When we don’t eat enough carbohydrates, our body is forced to burn more fat, which can be misconstrued as increasing the rate of net fat-mass reduction. However, on a keto diet, our fat intake also increases.

The “carbohydrate–insulin model of obesity,” a theory put forth by low-carb advocates, suggests that decreased insulin secretion (whether from a keto diet or a less intense form of carb restriction) would lead to less fat storage such that even if more fat were consumed, less would stick to your frame.

The Nutrition Science Initiative (NuSI) was formed by Gary Taubes, author of the controversial “What If It’s All Been a Big Fat Lie?” article arguing in favor of the Atkins diet. In response, some of the researchers Taubes cited to support his thesis accused him of misrepresenting their words and being “incredibly misleading.” NuSI got $40 million in funding to sponsor research to validate the carbohydrate–insulin model that more body fat could be lost on a keto diet. In fact, the researchers found that body fat loss slowed on a ketogenic diet.

If looking only at the numbers on a scale, a keto diet would seem to be effective. More pounds were lost on a keto diet compared to a typical diet, but the rate of body fat loss slowed by more than half and most of the loss was water weight. It’s thought that less fat is burned on a keto diet because, without the preferred fuel of carbs, the body starts burning more of its own protein, so a keto diet causes less fat mass loss and more fat-free mass loss—i.e., loss of more lean mass. The leg muscles of CrossFit trainees on a keto diet shrunk in thickness by 8 percent, for instance. The study participants began burning more fat on the keto diet, but they were eating so much more fat that they ended up retaining more fat in their bodies, despite the lower insulin levels, which is “diametrically opposite” to what the keto crowd predicted.

In light of this, the Nutrition Science Initiative effectively collapsed, but, according to tax returns, not before Taubes and his co-founder personally pocketed millions of dollars.”

This was from a blog post authored by Dr. Michael Gregor.