Diet & Fitness 

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Weight loss winners

If current trends continue, over a quarter of British adults will be obese by the year 2010. So isn't it about time experts agreed on the best way to diet?

According to a survey by Mintel in 2000, over one third of the UK population is on a slimming diet at any one time. With a bewildering array of diet books and diet aids in the marketplace, there is confusion as to what diets, if any, are suitable for us.

What factors have contributed to this demise in our health? We know that obesity is a multifactorial disease determined by genetic and environmental factors. Studies have shown that a sedentary lifestyle and a diet containing a high proportion of fat and a low proportion of carbohydrates are behavioural factors that contribute to weight gain. The research demonstrates that high-fat foods are associated with obesity and high-carbohydrate diets are linked to leanness.

Do high-carb diets work best?
In experimental studies, when people are allowed to eat as much as they want, volunteers eat significantly more calories if the foods are high in fat compared to foods high in carbohydrate. High-fat foods can potentially lead to passive over-consumption because they are low in fibre and are less satiating and so are less likely to satisfy hunger. Gram for gram, fat has over twice as many calories as carbohydrates. Over a period of time, eating more calories than we can burn off through exercise can lead to weight gain.

The GI risk factor
There has been opposing research, however, that suggests that eating certain carbohydrate-rich foods is linked with health problems such as heart disease and breast cancer. A study in the US tracked the health of over 75,500 women over ten years and its findings were published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2000. The researchers at Harvard Medical School found that carbohydrate-based foods with a high glycaemic index increased the risk of coronary heart disease. The glycaemic index (GI) of a food refers to the rate at which carbohydrates are digested and absorbed. Those with a high GI tend to be digested more quickly, leading to a rapid rise in the levels of sugar in our blood, whereas foods with a low-GI are broken down more slowly and produce a small, gradual rise in blood glucose.

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