I am sure you’ve seen the 05-02-16 New York Times article discussing the failure of the contestants on the “Biggest Loser” reality TV show to maintain almost ANY weight loss. Dr. David Ludwig, who I podcasted with recently is quoted in the NYT article. I emailed him for additional thoughts. Not surprisingly, he notes that food composition is linked to the failure or success of lasting weight loss. Here’s what he had to say:
“The main issue is that we know metabolic rate plummets with weight loss. That fall, together with a rise in hunger, sets the stage for weight gain. But humans aren’t destined to battle metabolism permanently. The NYT piece neglected the role of diet composition. In the figure below from our JAMA 2012 study, total calorie expenditure dropped precipitously with weight loss on a low fat diet, but did not fall at all on a low carb diet. This difference, about 325 calories per day, could make all the difference between constant struggle and successful weight loss maintenance.”
BL = baseline, LF = low fat diet, LGI = low glycemic index diet, VLC = very low carbohydrate diet
Check out the study published on the Biggest Loser’s weight gain. Look at the table of changes to different biomarkers. There is a severe plummet in leptin, an associated rise in adiponectin among other changes. I believe this profoundly underscores the need to lose weight using the correct diet strategy. And that diet appears to be for most of us: lower carb/sugar with higher fat.
Kara Fitzgerald, ND, received her doctor of naturopathic medicine degree from the National University of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon. She completed the first Counsel on Naturopathic Medicine-accredited post-doctorate position in nutritional biochemistry and laboratory science at Metametrix Clinical Laboratory under the direction of Richard Lord, PhD. Her residency was completed at Progressive Medical Center, a large, integrative medical practice in Atlanta, Georgia.
Dr. Fitzgerald is the lead author and editor of Case Studies in Integrative and Functional Medicine and is a contributing author to Laboratory Evaluations for Integrative and Functional Medicine and the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM)’s Textbook for Functional Medicine. With the Helfgott Research Institute, Dr. Fitzgerald is actively engaged in clinical research on the DNA methylome using a diet and lifestyle intervention developed in her practice. The first publication from the study focuses on reversal of biological aging and was published 04-12-2021 in the journal Aging. She has published a consumer book titled Younger You as well as a companion cookbook, Better Broths and Healing Tonics and has an application-based Younger You Program, based on the study.
Dr. Fitzgerald is on the faculty at IFM, is an IFM Certified Practitioner and lectures globally on functional medicine. She runs a Functional Nutrition Residency program, and maintains a podcast series, New Frontiers in Functional Medicine and an active blog on her website, www.drkarafitzgerald.com. Her clinical practice is in Sandy Hook, Connecticut.
Additional publications
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Excellent, So many informative
“But humans aren’t destined to battle metabolism permanently” That is indeed true.