Fat, Added Fat, and Obesity in America
In the last post, we saw that carbohydrate and particularly sugar intake have been declining in the US since 1999, even as our obesity rate has continued to climb. In this post, let's look at another...
View ArticleNew Evidence Strengthens the Link Between Hypothalamic Injury, Obesity, and...
Obesity involves changes in the function of brain regions that regulate body fatness and blood glucose, particularly a region called the hypothalamus. My colleagues and I previously showed that...
View ArticleHealing Back Pain
I've put off writing this post for many years because I know it will be controversial. But we're a few days from Christmas, and I also know this post will be a wonderful gift for some people. Chronic...
View ArticleHow Much do You Know About Your Own Brain?
We tend to believe we're aware of what's happening in our own brains, and also in conscious control of our behavior. But a growing body of neuroscience and psychology research demonstrates that most...
View ArticleAlways Hungry? It's Probably Not Your Insulin.
David Ludwig, MD, recently published a new book titled Always Hungry? Conquer cravings, retrain your fat cells, and lose weight permanently. The book is getting widespread media coverage. Ludwig is a...
View ArticleTesting the Insulin Model: A Response to Dr. Ludwig
Dr. David Ludwig, MD, recently published a response to my critique of the carbohydrate-insulin-obesity hypothesis. This is good because he defends the idea in more detail than I've encountered in...
View ArticleIs the "Obesity Paradox" an Illusion?
Over the last two decades, multiple independent research groups have come to the surprising conclusion that people with obesity (or, more commonly, overweight) might actually be healthier than lean...
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What I Eat
People often ask me what I eat. I've been reluctant to share, because it feels egocentric and I'm a private person by nature. I also don't want people to view my diet as a universal prescription for...
View ArticleA Free Issue of Examine.com Research Digest
Examine.com is a website that provides unbiased information on supplements and nutrition. They publish the Examine.com Research Digest (ERD), which reviews the latest studies in these areas. I like...
View ArticleCan Salt Increase Calorie Intake?
The debate rages on over whether dietary salt (NaCl) increases the risk of cardiovascular events, with no clear answer in sight. Yet few people are paying attention to another, more insidious effect...
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Invincible Coffee: The Next Evolution of Joe
Warning -- Satire -- old April Fools post! You've heard of Bulletproof Coffee, that mixture of coffee and butter that keeps you lean and supercharges your mental focus. The problem with Bulletproof...
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My Recent Paper on Linoleic Acid in Adipose Tissue
Linoleic acid (LA) is the predominant polyunsaturated fat in the human diet, and it's most concentrated in seed oils such as corn oil. LA accumulates in fat tissue, and as with many of the nutrients...
View ArticleWhy some dogs (and humans) are born hungry
The brain is the central regulator of appetite and body fatness, and genetic variation that affects body fatness tends to act in the brain. One important site of variation is the POMC gene, which...
View ArticleA Serious Challenge to the 2012 Low-carbohydrate "Metabolic Advantage" Study
Warning: this post will be a bit more wonkish than usual, because I need to get detailed to make my points. To read a summary, skip to the end. In 2012, David Ludwig's group published an interesting...
View ArticleTwo huge new studies further undermine the "obesity paradox"
The "obesity paradox" is the observation that people with higher fat mass sometimes have better health outcomes than lean people, including a lower overall risk of death. Evidence has been steadily...
View ArticleNuSI-funded Study Serves Up Disappointment for the Carbohydrate-insulin...
A new metabolic ward study tests the idea that lowering insulin via severe carbohydrate restriction increases metabolic rate and accelerates fat loss, independently of calorie intake. Although...
View ArticleThe Hungry Brain: Book Update
In January of this year, I handed in a complete manuscript draft of my first book, The Hungry Brain, to my editor at Flatiron Books. This book represents more than two full-time years of my life, and...
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The most slimming tortillas in the world
It's no secret that I'm an avid food gardener. In the last two years, I've moved from exclusively growing vegetables to growing large quantities of staple calorie crops, such as potatoes, flour corn,...
View ArticleDo Blood Glucose Levels Affect Hunger and Satiety?
You've heard the story before: when you eat carbohydrate-rich foods that digest quickly, it sends your blood sugar and insulin levels soaring, then your blood sugar level comes crashing back down and...
View ArticleCars as a metaphor for understanding obesity
If we want to understand the accumulation of excess body fat, it's tempting to focus our attention on the location that defines the condition: adipose tissue. Ultimately, the key question we want to...
View ArticleDid the US Dietary Guidelines Cause the Obesity Epidemic?
A popular argument holds that the US Dietary Guidelines caused our obesity epidemic by advising Americans to reduce fat intake. Does the evidence support this idea, or is it simply a fantasy? To read...
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This is your brain on pumpkin pie
Image credit: Evan Amos Thanksgiving is a special time in the United States when we gather our loved ones and celebrate the abundance of fall with a rich palette of traditional foods. Yet a new study...
View ArticleInstant Pot pressure cookers on deep sale today
I've written twice before about the Instant Pot, an electronic pressure cooker that helps make healthy food in a time-efficient manner (1, 2). At some point, I'll write another review of my Instant...
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Goodbye, Staffan Lindeberg
A photo Staffan sent me, showing him weighing a Kitavan man as part of the Kitava Study. I recently heard the sad news that Staffan Lindeberg, MD, PhD, lead researcher of the Kitava Study, has died....
View ArticleI've moved!
Hello dear readers, After nine years of blogging on this platform, I've decided to move to a new website at stephanguyenet.com. This coincides with the impending release of my book, The Hungry Brain,...
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