Seguici su acebook facebook Cerca nel sito:

Le ricerche di Gerona 2005

(24-05-2018) How calorie-focused thinking about obesity and related diseases may mislead and harm public health. An alternative.



Lucan SC 1, DiNicolantonio JJ 2.
Author information

1
1Department of Family and Social Medicine,Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center,1300 Morris Park Avenue,Block Building,Room 410,Bronx,NY 10461,USA.
2
2Department of Preventive Cardiology,Mid America Heart Institute at Saint Luke's Hospital,Kansas City,MO,USA.
Abstract

Prevailing thinking about obesity and related diseases holds that quantifying calories should be a principal concern and target for intervention. Part of this thinking is that consumed calories - regardless of their sources - are equivalent; i.e. 'a calorie is a calorie'. The present commentary discusses various problems with the idea that 'a calorie is a calorie' and with a primarily quantitative focus on food calories. Instead, the authors argue for a greater qualitative focus on the sources of calories consumed (i.e. a greater focus on types of foods) and on the metabolic changes that result from consuming foods of different types. In particular, the authors consider how calorie-focused thinking is inherently biased against high-fat foods, many of which may be protective against obesity and related diseases, and supportive of starchy and sugary replacements, which are likely detrimental. Shifting the focus to qualitative food distinctions, a central argument of the paper is that obesity and related diseases are problems due largely to food-induced physiology (e.g. neurohormonal pathways) not addressable through arithmetic dieting (i.e. calorie counting). The paper considers potential harms of public health initiatives framed around calorie balance sheets - targeting 'calories in' and/or 'calories out' - that reinforce messages of overeating and inactivity as underlying causes, rather than intermediate effects, of obesity. Finally, the paper concludes that public health should work primarily to support the consumption of whole foods that help protect against obesity-promoting energy imbalance and metabolic dysfunction and not continue to promote calorie-directed messages that may create and blame victims and possibly exacerbate epidemics of obesity and related diseases.

Source: Public Health Nutr. 2015 Mar;18(4):571-81. doi: 10.1017/S1368980014002559. Epub 2014 Nov 24.

News

  • (30-08-2018) The electronics in fluorescent bulbs and light emitting diodes (LED), rather than ultraviolet radiation, cause increased malignant melanoma incidence in indoor office workers and tanning bed users

    Leggi tutto

  • (30-08-2018) Mitocondri e peso forma

    Leggi tutto

  • (29-08-2018) Stroke now impacting younger patients as a result of the obesity epidemic; 4 in 10 are now aged 40-69

    Leggi tutto

  • (29-08-2018) Perdere peso non vuol dire perdere osso!

    Leggi tutto

  • (29-08-2018) Brain cholesterol: long secret life behind a barrier.

    Leggi tutto

  • (29-08-2018) Stile di vita sano? Si può, basta usare la fantasia

    Leggi tutto

  • (22-08-2018) Top 10 medical treatments that can make you SICKER than before you took them

    Leggi tutto

  • (22-08-2018) Meno ansia - C’è una associazione tra dieta e disturbi mentali?

    Leggi tutto

  • (22-08-2018) Dietary curcumin supplementation attenuates inflammation, hepatic injury and oxidative damage in a rat model of intra-uterine growth retardation.

    Leggi tutto

  • (22-08-2018) Dopo la gravidanza - Una dieta a basso indice glicemico se serve perdere peso

    Leggi tutto

  • (21-08-2018) Sleep Disturbances Can Be Prospectively Observed in Patients with an Inactive Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

    Leggi tutto

  • (21-08-2018) Anche i neo-papà soffrono della depressione post partum

    Leggi tutto


In evidenza

"L'informazione presente nel sito serve a migliorare, e non a sostituire, il rapporto medico-paziente."

Per coloro che hanno problemi di salute si consiglia di consultare sempre il proprio medico curante.

Informazioni utili