New major Harvard study: A calorie is not a calorie

New major Harvard study: A calorie is not a calorie

Despite what the sugary beverage and processed snack food companies want us to believe, all calories are not created equal.

A new study from Harvard shows that individuals following a low-carbohydrate (20% of total calories) diet burn between 209 and 278 more calories at rest (each day) than those on a high-carbohydrate (60% of total calories) diet. So the type of calories we eat really does matter.

This isn’t the first study to investigate this topic, but it is likely the best.

The current study was a meticulously controlled, randomized trial, lasting 20 weeks. Even more impressive, the study group provided all the food for participants, over 100,000 meals and snacks costing $12 million for the entire study! This eliminated an important variable in nutrition studies — did the subjects actually comply with the diet — and shows the power of philanthropy and partnerships in supporting high-quality science.

Why is this important? It shows why the conventional wisdom to eat less, move more and count your calories is not the best path to weight loss. Numerous studies show better weight loss with low-carb diets compared to low-fat diets, and now studies like this one help us understand why.

Our bodies are not simple calorimeters keeping track of how much we eat and how much we burn. Instead, we have intricate hormonal responses to the types of food we eat. It’s time to accept this and get rid of the outdated calories in-calories, calories-out model, thus allowing for more effective and sustainable long-term weight loss.

I suppose it is much like wood... the same quantity of different types of wood does not burn equally. Some burn quicker and leave ashes whilst others burn longer with coals.

See https://www.dietdoctor.com/all-calories-are-not-created-equal. Interesting that the study is published at https://www.bmj.com/content/363/bmj.k4583 with a creative commons license.

#LCHF #calories

All calories are not created equal! — Diet Doctor News
Despite what the sugary beverage and processed snack food companies want us to believe, all calories are not created equal. A new study from Harvard shows that individuals following a low-carb diet burn roughly 250 more calories at rest than those on a high-carb diet.


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