Scientists Examine How Food Processing and Glycemic Index Affect Diet
Experts say genetics, processing and cooking can change how many calories the body absorbs, and labels may mislead by up to 20%, researchers said.
- A recent lawsuit accusing the maker of David protein bars of mislabeling fat and calorie content highlighted the complexities of counting calories, bringing scrutiny to how package numbers oversimplify metabolic reality.
- Bodies are not combustion chambers, and nutrition labels can be off by as much as 20% due to permitted rounding; digestibility, food processing, and individual DNA variations all influence how our bodies absorb calories.
- Having a snack of 8 ounces of sugary beverage at 100 calories often impacts weight worse than 1 ounce of nuts at 200 calories because those 100 calories shift the body toward fat storage and trigger hunger sooner.
- Dr. David Ludwig, an endocrinologist and researcher at Boston Children, advises focusing on diet quality over quantity. "We need to think about calories in a much more sophisticated fashion than the number on the package," Ludwig said.
- Genetics and lifestyle factors like sleep influence how individuals process calories, according to Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford, a Harvard Medical School obesity specialist; the same food may yield different metabolic results for different people on different days.
30 Articles
30 Articles
The formula of fashion diets, based on the simple equation: "If you consume less calories than you burn, you will lose weight", is not correct
My Mother Lode
Why losing weight isn’t just about counting calories — and what to do about it
When it comes to losing weight, it turns out the simple math of counting calories doesn’t always add up. Counting calories can be a useful tool for managing weight, but is trickier than it may seem. The quality of the calories matters because foods such as white breads, pastas and sugar are easily converted to usable energy and trigger our bodies to store calories. Some beans, whole grains and seeds resist easy conversion into usable energy and …
Most people think of nutrition as a simple math problem. If you eat fewer calories, you will lose weight; if you eat more, you will gain weight. But the reality is much more complex. Your body doesn’t think in numbers, it thinks in processes. It’s not about how much energy you eat, it’s about what your body can do with it. According to chemical engineer Gábor Goda, calories are just a measurement. The real difference is in the state of your body…
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