The inheritance

The role of science is to question everything. Health authorities today, however, have forgotten this role, as well as the conventional wisdom of the 1960s, Taubes says. America's medical establishment inherited a paradigm — a way of thinking about obesity — that seems to be commonsense and indisputable. They've never questioned it and see no reason to test its validity.

This inheritance was largely the work of six men who dominated obesity research in the 1970s. These men, convinced that overeating causes obesity, hosted all the conferences, wrote the proceedings and then authored the textbooks on obesity.

“They decided what the science was, and they came up with this idea that the physiological, biochemical regulation of fat tissue is irrelevant to why we get fat,” Taubes says.

By addressing obesity as a problem of overeating, they put the problem in the brain. It is as if to say, “You eat too much because you just can't help yourself. If you ate less, you'd be thinner.”

This meaningless concept, he says, is a misinterpretation of the laws of thermodynamics.

What's more, at least two of the six leading researchers knew Robert Atkins, the physician and cardiologist best known for the popular low-carbohydrate, high-protein Atkins diet. They thought Atkins' high-fat diet would give people heart attacks, and thus didn't actually care if it was the only functional way to lose weight. In their minds, Atkins was going to kill people by telling them to eat cheeseburgers and other foods loaded with saturated fat. So, to diffuse the Atkins phenomenon, these men threw out the science.

“They wanted to get rid of Atkins — the bath water — so they threw out the baby with him, which was the science that says: Carbohydrates make you fat. If you don't eat carbohydrates, you won't be fat,” Taubes says.

Since Taubes started his research, the results of more than half a dozen clinical trials of the Atkins diet have been published. Virtually all show people on the Atkins diet not only lose weight but improve their cholesterol profiles.

The gist of the Atkins diet is to avoid starchy vegetables and sweets and don't shy away from dietary fat. Eat eggs, meat, chicken and fish, and supplement those with green leafy vegetables, cheese or nuts.

Taubes says it's hard to imagine how this can be unhealthy because the carbohydrates you avoid don't bring many vitamins or minerals into the diet anyway.

Nutritionists respond

The idea that consuming too many low-quality carbohydrates makes people gain weight is a simple, legitimate hypothesis that's never been refuted, Taubes says. Even so, he's typically met with blank stares when he lectures to obesity researchers.

“Often, I'll get the comment, ‘It just can't be that simple.’ I'll say, ‘No, actually it can be that simple. The way science works is you're supposed to be able to refute the simple hypothesis,’ ” he says. “Only if you can refute the simple hypothesis can you then start complicating it in order to explain whatever it is you are studying.”

One nutritionist from New York University told Taubes it may take a lifetime to get people to accept what he's saying.

Shalene McNeill, executive director of human nutrition research for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, says Taubes' proposition is important.

“His evaluation and deeper review of the scientific evidence certainly calls into question some long-standing ideas,” she says. “It's a good scientific exercise.”

But McNeill says there's not one simple prescription for curbing today's obesity epidemic. And because the book challenges conventional wisdom, most nutritionists regard it with at least some skepticism.

“Most want more evidence,” she says. “But there's a lot of merit to the book, and it has prompted a tremendous amount of research.”

The book, she says, goes right along with the latest research in rediscovering the importance and benefits of protein in the diet. Beef is the number-one source of dietary protein.

Right now, many nutritionists are debating whether a calorie is a calorie. She says high-protein diets can decrease appetite, reduce calorie intake and help you maintain a lean body mass.

The body of scientific evidence supporting protein's beneficial role in weight management is growing. The science is there, McNeill says, and the beef industry is now able to leverage it to influential leaders in the nutrition community.

“This is exciting news for beef consumers,” she says, “because they can incorporate more beef back into their diets.”

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