<p>I think what they are just discovering about diet & nutrition is how different humans are. I don’t have the background to discuss this, but apparently genetic variations in metabolism make some people prone to gain weight on carbs, or fats, while other people will maintain or even lose weight on the same number (and type) of calories.</p>
<p>And they’re just discovering the uses of the multitudes of different bacteria that exist in your gut. They probably have more to do with metabolasis than we ever imagined.</p>
<p>I’d tend to agree with that mommusic. There probably is much we don’t know. I think the same is true of heart disease. Once it was all diet and smoking. Now many point to a virus and other bugs possibly being a key factor. </p>
<p>Dean Ornish has as big or bigger axe to grind than the researchers who did the study. His entire reputation is based on extreme low-fat living. Anything that counters that makes his head spin. Also the points from the study I was interested in were not related to weight loss, but the impact on cholesterol and blood sugar levels. The results ran counter to most nutritional thinking today.</p>
<p>The study was actually quite clever and well-done from a scientific perspective. However, it was not really at traditional “Atkins” diet. The percent carbohydrate was actually about 40% of the diet after the induction phase (up to more than 100 gm/carbodydrate/day) and the percent fat 39% – Atkins is generally about 20% carbohydrate and much higher in fat. In addition, as others have mentioned the fat and protein sources were more likely to be vegetable or dairy in Israel (no pork rinds or cheesburgers!) In addition, women did better on the “Mediterranean” diet than the lower carb, as did those with type 2 diabetes. I think an important “take home” was that having food provided at the worksite with a moderate intesity behavioral intervention was pretty good at achieving and maintain weight loss regardless of diet, and that different diets may work better in different people. The difference between the 3 diets was only a few pounds.</p>