Read Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It Online
Authors: Gary Taubes
Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It (31 page)
Sugar by any other name is still sugar!
All of these are forms of sugar: sucrose, dextrose, fructose, maltose, lactose, glucose, honey, agave syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, maple syrup, brown-rice syrup, molasses, evaporated cane juice, cane juice, fruit-juice concentrate, corn sweetener.
Any journalistic project that’s been in the works as long as this one is bound to have required the help, faith, talent, and patience of so many sources, editors, researchers, and friends that enumerating them all is an effectively impossible job. To all of them, though, I am exceedingly grateful.
For this book alone, I’d like to thank Dave Dixon, Petro Dobromylskyj (aka “hyperlipid”), Mike Eades, Stephan Guyenet, Kevin Hall, Larry Istrail, Robert Kaplan, Adam Kosloff, Rick Lindquist, Ellen Rogers, Gary Sides, Frank Spence, Nassim Taleb, Clifford Taubes, Sonya Treyo, Mary Vernon, and Eric Westman, all of whom took the time to read a draft of this book and give me their thoughtful critiques and ideas for how to improve it. Ellen Rogers was also kind enough to do the illustrations and help me bring a little clarity to the subject of fat metabolism; Bob Kaplan was generous with his time and his impressive skills as a researcher. I’m grateful to Mary Dan and Mike Eades, Stephen Phinney, Mary Vernon, Eric Westman, and Jay Wortman for taking the time to discuss what they’ve learned about treating patients with carbohydrate-restricted diets. I’d like to thank Duane Storey for his gracious help with my website, and Ulrike Gonder for her research in Germany.
I’d like to thank Jimmy Moore for being, well, Jimmy Moore.
Thanks, once again, to Hugo Lindgren and Adam Moss; to Adam Fisher for his editing of my article “The Scientist and the Stairmaster” in
New York
magazine; and Rebecca Milzoff for her fact-checking.
At Knopf, my peerless editor Jon Segal first made this book happen and then made it work. Thanks go to Kyle McCarthy and
Joey McGarvey for their expert and endlessly cheerful assistance. My agent, Kris Dahl, at ICM continues to make me grateful for her friendship and her support.
My wife, Sloane Tanen, makes this possible (and tosses enough hibernating African llamas into the mix to keep it amusing). Our sons, Harry and Nick, make it worth the effort.
The list below includes relevant sources for each chapter and, in some cases, academic review articles or books that provide reasonably balanced analyses of the science. As I suggested in the Author’s Note, those who are serious about deconstructing my conclusions in this book (or challenging them) and the history of the relevant nutritional issues should refer to
Good Calories, Bad Calories
for the logic, the evidence, and the more detailed annotations.
Bruch, H. 1957.
The Importance of Overweight
. New York: W. W. Norton.
Gladwell, M. 1998. “The Pima Paradox.”
The New Yorker
. Feb 2.
Pollan, M. 2008.
In Defense of Food
. New York: Penguin Press.
Renold, A. E., and G. F. Cahill, Jr., eds. 1965.
Handbook of Physiology, Section 5, Adipose Tissue
. Washington, D.C.: American Physiological Society.
Arteaga, A. 1974. “The Nutritional Status of Latin American Adults.” In
Nutrition and Agricultural Development
, ed. N. S. Scrimshaw and B. Moises, pp. 67–76. New York: Plenum Press.
Brownell, K. D., and G. B. Horgen. 2004.
Food Fight: The Inside Story of the Food Industry, America’s Obesity Crisis, and What We Can Do About It
. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Caballero, B. 2005. “A Nutrition Paradox—Underweight and Obesity in Developing Countries.”
New England Journal of Medicine
. Apr 14;352(15): 1514–16.
Dobyns, H. F. 1989.
The Pima-Maricopa
. New York: Chelsea House.
Goldblatt, P. B., M. E. Moore, and A. J. Stunkard. 1965. “Social Factors in Obesity.”
Journal of the American Medical Association
. Jun 21;192:1039–44.
Grant, F. W., and D. Groom. 1959. “A Dietary Study Among a Group of Southern Negroes.”
Journal of the American Dietetics Association
. Sep;35:910–18.
Haddock, D. R. 1969. “Obesity in Medical Out-Patients in Accra.”
Ghana Medical Journal
. Dec:251–54.
Helstosky, C. F. 2004.
Garlic and Oil: Food and Politics in Italy
. Oxford, U.K.: Berg Publishers.
Hrdli
ka, A. 1908.
Physiological and Medical Observations Among the Indians of Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico
. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
——. 1906. “Notes on the Pima of Arizona.”
American Anthropologist
. Jan–Mar;8(1):39–46.
Interdepartmental Commission on Nutrition for National Defense. 1962.
Nutrition Survey in the West Indies
. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Johnson, T. O. 1970. “Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity Among Adult Subjects of an Urban African Population Sample.”
British Journal of Preventive & Social Medicine
. 24;105–9.
Keys, A. 1983. “From Naples to Seven Countries—A Sentimental Journey.”
Progress in Biochemical Pharmacology
. 19:1–30.
Kraus, B. R. 1954.
Indian Health in Arizona: A Study of Health Conditions Among Central and Southern Arizona Indians
. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
Lewis, N. 1978.
Naples ’44
. New York: Pantheon.
McCarthy C. 1966. “Dietary and Activity Patterns of Obese Women in Trinidad.”
Journal of the American Dietetics Association
. Jan;48:33–37.
Nestle, M. 2003. “The Ironic Politics of Obesity.”
Science
. Feb 7;269(5608):781
Osancova, K. 1975. “Trends of Dietary Intake and Prevalence of Obesity in Czechoslovakia.” In
Recent Advances in Obesity Research: I
, ed. A. N. Howard, pp. 42–50. Westport, Conn.: Technomic Publishing.
Prior, I. A. 1971. “The Price of Civilization.”
Nutrition Today
. Jul–Aug:2–11.
Reichley, K. B., W. H. Mueller, C. L. Hanis, et al. 1987. “Centralized Obesity and Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Mexican Americans.”
American Journal of Epidemiology
. Mar;125(3):373–86.
Richards, R., and M. deCasseres. 1974. “The Problem of Obesity in Developing Countries: Its Prevalence and Morbidity.” In
Obesity
, ed. W. L. Burland, P. D. Samuel, and J. Yudkin, pp. 74–84. New York: Churchill Livingstone.
Russell, F. 1975.
The Pima Indians
. Tuscon: University of Arizona Press. [Originally published 1908.]
Seftel, H. C., K. J. Keeley, A. R. Walker, J. J. Theron, and D. Delange. 1965. “Coronary Heart Disease in Aged South African Bantu.”
Geriatrics
. Mar;20:194–205.
Slome, C., B. Gampel, J. H. Abramson, and N. Scotch. 1960. “Weight, Height and Skinfold Thickness of Zulu Adults in Durban.”
South African Medical Journal
. Jun 11;34:505–9.
Stein, J. H., K. M. West, J. M. Robey, D. F. Tirador, and G. W. McDonald. 1965. “The High Prevalence of Abnormal Glucose Tolerance in the Cherokee Indians of North Carolina.”
Archives of Internal Medicine
. Dec;116(6):842–45.
Stene, J. A., and I. L. Roberts. 1928. “A Nutrition Study on an Indian Reservation.”
Journal of the American Dietetics Association
. Mar;3(4):215–22.
Tulloch, J. A. 1962.
Diabetes Mellitus in the Tropics
. London: Livingstone.
Valente, S., A. Arteaga, and J. Santa Maria. 1964. “Obesity in a Developing Country.” In
Proceedings of the Sixth International Congress of Nutrition
, ed. C. F. Mills and R. Passmore, p. 555. Edinburgh: Livingstone.
Walker, A. R. 1964. “Overweight and Hypertension in Emerging Populations.”
American Heart Journal
. Nov;68(5):581–85.
West, K. M. 1981. “North American Indians.” In
Western Diseases
, ed. H. C. Trowell and D. P. Burkitt, pp. 129–37. London: Edward Arnold.
Dansinger, M. L., A. Tatsioni, W. B. Wong, M. Chung, and E. M. Balk. 2007. “Meta-Analysis: The Effect of Dietary Counseling for Weight Loss.”
The Archives of Internal Medicine
. Jul 3;147(1):41–50.
Howard, B. V., J. E. Manson, M. L. Stefanick, et al. 2006. “Low-Fat Dietary Pattern and Weight Change over 7 Years: The Women’s Health Initiative Dietary Modification Trial.”
Journal of the American Medical Association
. Jan 4;295(1):39–49.
Maratos-Flier, E., and J. S. Flier. 2005. “Obesity.” In
Joslin’s Diabetes Mellitus
. 14th ed., ed. C. R. Kahn, G. C. Weir, G. L. King, A. C. Moses, R. J. Smith, and A. M. Jacobson, pp. 533–45. Media, Pa.: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins.
Palgi, A., J. L. Read, I. Greenberg, M. A. Hoefer, R. R. Bistrian, and G. L. Blackburn. 1985. “Multidisciplinary Treatment of Obesity with a Protein-Sparing Modified Fast: Results in 668 Outpatients.”
American Journal of Public Health
. Oct;75(10):1190–94.
Pollan, M. 2007. “Unhappy Meals.”
New York Times
. Jan 28.
Sacks, G. A., G. A. Bray, V. J. Carey, et al. 2009. “Comparison of Weight-Loss Diets with Different Compositions of Fat, Protein, and Carbohydrates.”
New England Journal of Medicine
. Feb 26;360(9):859–73.
Stunkard, A., and M. McClaren-Hume. 1959. “The Results of Treatment for Obesity: A Review of the Literature and a Report of a Series.”
Archives of Internal Medicine
. Jan;103(1):79–85.
Van Gaal, L. F. 1998. “Dietary Treatment of Obesity.” In
Handbook of Obesity
, ed. G. A. Bray, C. Bouchard, and W.P.T. James, pp. 875–90. New York: Marcel Dekker.
Bennett, W., and J. Gurin. 1982.
The Dieter’s Dilemma: Eating Less and Weighing More
. New York: Basic Books.
Bray, G. A. 1979.
Obesity in America
. Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health, NIH Publication No. 79–359.
Cohn, V. 1980. “A Passion to Keep Fit: 100 Million Americans Exercising.”
Washington Post
. Aug 31:A1.
Elia, M. 1992. “Organ and Tissue Contribution to Metabolic Rate.” In
Energy Metabolism
, ed. J. M. Kinney and H. N. Tucker, pp. 61–79. New York: Raven Press.
Fogelholm, M., and K. Kukkonen-Harjula. 2000. “Does Physical Activity Prevent Weight Gain—a Systematic Review.”
Obesity Reviews
. Oct;1(2):95–111.
Gilmore, C. P. 1977. “Taking Exercise to Heart.”
New York Times
. Mar 27:211.
Haskell, W. L., I. M. Lee, R. R. Pate, et al. 2007. “Physical Activity and Public Health: Updated Recommendation for Adults from the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association.”
Circulation
. Aug 28;116(9):1081–93.
Janssen, G. M., C. J. Graef, and W. H. Saris. 1989. “Food Intake and Body Composition in Novice Athletes During a Training Period to Run a Marathon.”
International Journal of Sports Medicine
. May;10(Suppl 1):S17–S21.
Kolata, G. 2004.
Ultimate Fitness
. New York: Picador.
Mayer J. 1968.
Overweight: Causes, Cost, and Control
. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.
Mayer, J., and F. J. Stare. 1953. “Exercise and Weight Control.”
Journal of the American Dietetic Association
. Apr;29(4):340–43.
Mayer, J., N. B. Marshall, J. J. Vitale, J. H. Christensen, M. B. Mashayekhi, and F. J. Stare. 1954. “Exercise, Food Intake and Body Weight in Normal Rats and Genetically Obese Adult Mice.”
American Journal of Physiology
. Jun;177(3):544–48.
Mayer, J., P. Roy, and K. P. Mitra. 1956. “Relation Between Caloric Intake, Body Weight, and Physical Work: Studies in an Industrial Male Population in West Bengal.”
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
. Mar–Apr;4(2):169–75.
Newburgh, L. H. 1942. “Obesity.”
Archives of Internal Medicine
. Dec;70:1033–96.
Rony, H. R. 1940.
Obesity and Leanness
. Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger.
Segal, K. R., and F. X. Pi-Sunyer. 1989. “Exercise and Obesity.”
Medical Clinics of North America
. Jan;73(1):217–36.
Stern, J. S., and P. Lowney. 1986. “Obesity: The Role of Physical Activity.” In
Handbook of Eating Disorders
, ed. K. D Brownell and J. P. Foreyt, pp. 145–58. New York: Basic Books.
Wilder, R. M. 1933. “The Treatment of Obesity.”
International Clinics
. 4:1–21.
Williams, P. T., and P. D. Wood. 2006. “The Effects of Changing Exercise Levels on Weight and Age-Related Weight Gain.”
International Journal of Obesity
. Mar;30(3):543–51.
Du Bois, E. F. 1936.
Basal Metabolism in Health and Disease
. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger.
