Sometimes even science sucks.

I highly encourage everyone to always call B.S. on everything they see and hear. Apply your own wits and think things through before coming to your own conclusions.

I recently stumbled upon this article about eating whole grains. I simply disregarded it since you all know my stance on grains and carbs. But then I realized that perhaps it might help to discuss why I think this article is bunk.

The article feeds the fairly recent claim that argues whole grains, rather than highly refined grains,are good (better) for you. The idea there is that the whole grains take longer for your metabolism to break down and as such keep you full longer and, ultimately have a lower glycemic index than highly refined carbs (takes longer to become glucose in your blood). Also, because much of the grain remains intact (bran, endosperm, etc..) you supposedly get more nutrients for your buck while still keeping the calorie count relatively low. And since there are fewer fat-calories (which somehow are linked to human fat, in this case and many other pro-carb studies; of course there is no direct link but lets play along) then a caloric deficit (also not well shown to be a succesful method of aquiring fitness) will ultimately produce a leaner and more fit individual. Quite a nice theory indeed.

As we all hopefully know by now, all calories ARE NOT created equally and our bodies deal with them quite differently. Calories from sugars (carbs,starches, etc.) trigger insulin to be released into the blood. Calories from protein trigger glucagon to be relaesed to metabolize that. And fat is completely separate in it's metabilsm because it is hormonally neutral (for the most part) and has many uses in addition to fueling the oxidative pathways. So this is important to consider.

One of the argument presented in the article is lower visceral fat leads to lower risk of type-2 diabetes and metabloic disease. Lets think about this for a second. Insulin (triggered by glucose) is respomsible for storing "stuff" as fat in our bodies. Chronically high levels of insulin is also the cause of "insulin-resistance" which essentially is the precursor to type-2 diabetes. I know I just generalized two very complex issues, but sometimes, that helps. So basically, the two seemingly separate issues have one single factor. Now, some might ask, "well, why then are there skinny diabetics and fat people without any signs of diabetes?" Well, our susceptibilities are all different because our genetic predisposition seem to be different. Here's a source about fat cells that may help (good read). Perhaps some people max out their fat-cells earlier than others..

So if chronically high glucose is the major cause of all of these issues, wouldn't it make sense to address that issue rather on focusing on a related symptom? Here's an analogy: Smoking gives you bad breath and emphezema. Would it make sense to try and address the bad breath to treat the emphezema, or should we just address the real cause of BOTH of those issues; the smoking? Discuss.

I'm not going to get into too much economics here, but the carb-favoring study was funded by the USDA and General Mills and their intersts lie in creating wealth for the agricultural markets, which happens to be an enormous factor in the health of our economy, especialy during times of economic hardship.(the farm bill was created after the great depression along with the food pyramid, no surpises there).

Ironically, the study concedes that much more research needs to be done to find various missing links in their logic. Furthermore, no links to fat-loss and consumption quatitities of whole-grains were found. So why do people who eat whole grains solely have 10% lower visceral fat? I imagine that those who eat whole grains are probably just more health-minded in general and as such, have less body-fat as opposed to those who are not or CANNOT be health-minded because of financial circumstances.

Here's an actual study about auto-immune disease which will hopefully make you reconsider consuming any grains whatsoever as they are a major contributor to systemic inflammation.

Discuss! DO IT!

P.S. We'll have a little turkey-day leftover contest next week, where I will be the judge. Just kidding, kind of..