I can’t think of any way to answer you correctly and yet also briefly, because Taubes’s ideas are not easy, at least not easy for me, to put into a nutshell.
Therefore what I am about to say should be taken as no more than a very crude, and greatly exaggerated, approximation of Taubes’s theory. Here it is: if you eat more carbs, you turn yourself into a Zucker rat. If you eat fewer carbs, you stop being a Zucker rat.
What is a Zucker rat? I’ll let Taubes describe the Zucker rat:
These rats, like Mayer’s mice, are genetically predisposed to get fat. When Zucker rats are put on a calorie-restricted diet from the moment they’re weaned from their mothers’ milk, they don’t end up leaner than their littermates who are allowed to eat as much as they want. They end up fatter. They may weigh a little less, but they have just as much or even more body fat. Even if they want to be gluttons, which they assuredly do, they can’t, and they still get even fatter than they would have had they never been put on a diet. On the other hand, their muscles and organs, including their brains and kidneys, are smaller than they’d otherwise be. Just as the muscles in Mayer’s mice “melted away” when starved, the muscles and organs in these semi-starved Zucker rats are “significantly reduced” in size compared with those fat littermates who get to eat freely. “In order to develop this obese body composition in the face of calorie restriction,” wrote the researcher who reported this observation in 1981, “several developing organ systems in the obese rats [are] compromised.” Let’s think about this for a second. If a baby rat that is genetically programmed to become obese is put on a diet from the moment it’s weaned, so it can eat no more than a lean rat would eat, if that, and can never eat as much as it would like, it responds by compromising its organs and muscles to satisfy its genetic drive to grow fat. It’s not just using the energy it would normally expend in day-to-day activity to grow fat; it’s taking the materials and the energy it would normally dedicate to building its muscles, organs, and even its brain and using that.
Briefly and crudely, carbs affect insulin, insulin affects how greedy and stingy the fat cells are. Greedy fat cells grab energy-carrying molecules, effectively starving the rest of the body. Stingy fat cells are reluctant to let go of the energy they’ve stored, keeping the rest of the body starved. A starved body is simultaneously hungry and lethargic, for obvious reasons. This in effect reverses the usual causal picture. Greedy stingy fat cells cause a person to feel hungry and lethargic, which causes a person to be inactive and eat a lot. The picture that most people have in their minds is the reverse: a person who eats a lot and who exercises little will, as a consequence of these two vices, get fat. Taubes argues that these so-called vices are a symptom of starvation, which is caused by fat cells hoarding energy, which in turn is caused primarily by high insulin. To break the vicious cycle, cut out the part of the food which spikes insulin, and that is primarily the carbs, and specifically certain kinds of carbs which are rapidly digested.
To repeat, while I’m trying to give the best answer I can, it’s only an approximation of his argument.
Taubes wrote a 600-page book on the science, most of it involving humans. I’m out of my depth at this point—you would need to consult the book, either Good Calories Bad Calories, or one he wrote more recently for a wider audience that seriously trims back on the science. But if you want the science you want the earlier, bigger book.
The amazing thing (to me) is that Taubes’ two books are not original or personal studies, nor does he claim otherwise. Instead, they are exhaustive reviews of the published dietary research, in which he looks at what was found, and the conclusions that should be drawn. It is (in my opinion) one of the most egregious examples of confirmation bias that the establishment researchers and the government (USA) chose to conclude from these same studies those things that supported their established views, in spite of their own evidence to the contrary. I conclude that adoption of Taubes’ findings into our lifestyles would have more positive impact on healthcare (at least, in the USA) than anything else I know. I acknowledge that SIAI President Michael Vassar has said to me: “I met Taubes and he seemed (almost certainly) sincere but not all that bright. Definitely not very erudite and not all that good at philosophy of science.” I suggest that readers review Taubes’ credientials and determine, as I have, whether he is likely qualified both to understand and to write about the topic. I have been an Atkins devotee for years, and my chemistries reflect Taubes’ conclusions (anecdotal). I acknowledge that some very intelligent people (e.g. Yudkowsky) believe that some particular individuals are mysteriously “metabolically challenged”, and may respond differently, although I am not aware of the studies to confirm this.
I can’t think of any way to answer you correctly and yet also briefly, because Taubes’s ideas are not easy, at least not easy for me, to put into a nutshell.
Therefore what I am about to say should be taken as no more than a very crude, and greatly exaggerated, approximation of Taubes’s theory. Here it is: if you eat more carbs, you turn yourself into a Zucker rat. If you eat fewer carbs, you stop being a Zucker rat.
What is a Zucker rat? I’ll let Taubes describe the Zucker rat:
I suppose the point is less that you can lose weight on 3000 carb-free calories a day, and more that you can’t lose weight if you’re eating carbs.
Just out of interest, what’s the proposed mechanism by which carbs turn us into Zucker rats?
Briefly and crudely, carbs affect insulin, insulin affects how greedy and stingy the fat cells are. Greedy fat cells grab energy-carrying molecules, effectively starving the rest of the body. Stingy fat cells are reluctant to let go of the energy they’ve stored, keeping the rest of the body starved. A starved body is simultaneously hungry and lethargic, for obvious reasons. This in effect reverses the usual causal picture. Greedy stingy fat cells cause a person to feel hungry and lethargic, which causes a person to be inactive and eat a lot. The picture that most people have in their minds is the reverse: a person who eats a lot and who exercises little will, as a consequence of these two vices, get fat. Taubes argues that these so-called vices are a symptom of starvation, which is caused by fat cells hoarding energy, which in turn is caused primarily by high insulin. To break the vicious cycle, cut out the part of the food which spikes insulin, and that is primarily the carbs, and specifically certain kinds of carbs which are rapidly digested.
To repeat, while I’m trying to give the best answer I can, it’s only an approximation of his argument.
Based on what I know about biochemistry and metabolism, that sounds reasonable. Have they done any studies on humans (not mice)?
Taubes wrote a 600-page book on the science, most of it involving humans. I’m out of my depth at this point—you would need to consult the book, either Good Calories Bad Calories, or one he wrote more recently for a wider audience that seriously trims back on the science. But if you want the science you want the earlier, bigger book.
The amazing thing (to me) is that Taubes’ two books are not original or personal studies, nor does he claim otherwise. Instead, they are exhaustive reviews of the published dietary research, in which he looks at what was found, and the conclusions that should be drawn. It is (in my opinion) one of the most egregious examples of confirmation bias that the establishment researchers and the government (USA) chose to conclude from these same studies those things that supported their established views, in spite of their own evidence to the contrary. I conclude that adoption of Taubes’ findings into our lifestyles would have more positive impact on healthcare (at least, in the USA) than anything else I know. I acknowledge that SIAI President Michael Vassar has said to me: “I met Taubes and he seemed (almost certainly) sincere but not all that bright. Definitely not very erudite and not all that good at philosophy of science.” I suggest that readers review Taubes’ credientials and determine, as I have, whether he is likely qualified both to understand and to write about the topic. I have been an Atkins devotee for years, and my chemistries reflect Taubes’ conclusions (anecdotal). I acknowledge that some very intelligent people (e.g. Yudkowsky) believe that some particular individuals are mysteriously “metabolically challenged”, and may respond differently, although I am not aware of the studies to confirm this.