Weight Gain: Calories in, Calories out?

Gary Taubes, an American science writer has a new blog.  His book Good Calories, Bad Calories is a must read for understanding how refined carbohydrates, not dietary fat cause Cardio Vascular Disease, Obesity, Hypertension, Hyperlipidemia (and a long list of other modern diseases)! I would also recommend reading an article he wrote for the New York Times in 2002 titled “What If It’s All Been a Big Fat Lie?” which challenged the popular (and unhealthy) “low-fat diet” craze.

Mr. Taubes reminds us of the importance of critically examining ALL of the controlling variables in scientific research.  So often correlations are made without recognizing exactly what variables affected the outcome.  With this in mind, Mr. Taubes examines the following questions in his most recent blog post: “Is it the total calories consumed that is the variable determining weight loss? And, by the same token, is it the calories consumed (or expended) that determines how much weight we gain?”

Continue reading to see how researchers can lead you astray by overlooking or not reporting key variables that affect reported outcomes:

Calories, fat or carbohydrates? Why diets work (when they do).