Word Count: 660
Average Read Time: 2 minutes 24 seconds
For decades, dietary fat was blamed for the obesity epidemic and all of our health problems. Public opinion has since taken a complete 180 and carbs are now considered to be the bad guy.
Opinions aren’t facts though. Are carbs really that bad for you? If so, to what extent? We’ll look at this from two different perspectives. First, we’ll discuss whether or not carbs are bad for our overall health, then we’ll discuss whether or not carbs cause weight gain.
(I’ve covered both of these topics before, but newer research has since come-to-light.)
Are carbs bad for your health?
A 2009 study sat out to answer this question by randomly assigning 811 participants to one of four reduced Calorie diets. In the first diet, 65% of each individual’s total intake was from carbs. In the second, 55%. In the third, 45%. In the fourth, 35%. [1]
Risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes were assessed before the diet, at 6 months, and 2 years. The results didn’t seem to definitively favor one diet over another. The highest carb diet decreased LDL cholesterol the most, while the lowest carb diet increased HDL cholesterol the most. All diets showed similar decreases in triglycerides.
Further supporting this, a 2014 meta-analysis [2] (a study that summarizes the results of many studies into one study) that included 19 studies found “little or no difference was detected at 3-6 months and 1-2 years for blood pressure, LDL, HDL and total cholesterol, triglycerides and fasting blood glucose”
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Glycemic Index
Taking things one step further, many believe carbs aren’t bad for you in general but the types of carbs are what matter. Many of these individuals point to the Glycemic Index as a ranking of how “unhealthy” a particular carb source is.
Unfortunately for them, and fortunately for us, who enjoy eating all the carbs (#allcarbsmatter), the available research shows only a slight benefit, or no benefit, for low-glycemic carbs over high-glycemic carbs.[3][4][5][6][7]
Are carbs good or bad for weight loss?
At this point, we’ve determined carbs aren’t bad for your health, but are carbs bad for you when trying to lose weight?
When we eat carbs, the pancreas detects that we’ve eaten carbs and releases insulin in response. Two of the functions of insulin are to blunt fat breakdown and promote fat storage.
This has led many to believe carbs are responsible for the obesity epidemic. This is known as the Carbohydrate-Insulin Model of Obesity.
However, that’s not really how things work. Yes, carb intake leads to insulin excretion. Yes, insulin blunts fat breakdown and promotes fat storage, but just because a = b and b = c, does not necessarily mean a = c.
Sparing you the time of reading what happens when you eat carbs, we’ll skip right to the conclusion. (If you do want to know what happens in your body when you eat carbs, you can check out this post.)
The same 2009 study [1] mentioned above also observed changes in both body weight and waist measurements.
Not only did this study find that the higher carb diets did not negatively impact weight loss but the highest carb group actually had the greatest weight loss and the greatest drop in waist measurement.
Further supporting this, a 2017 meta-analysis [8] that included 32 studies found that fat loss was greater with low-fat diets (but not by much).
Takeaway
The proportion of carbs or fats makes very little difference in terms of both health and weight loss. Your total Calorie intake is the biggest determinant. The quality of your diet is also extremely important for general health. Control the amount of food you’re eating and ensure you’re eating mostly healthy foods (lean meats, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, dairy, eggs, etc).
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