I've generally been quite critical of the calorie model of health in my writing. Science has shown time and again that it is far too simplistic a model -- calories in equal to calories out does not always ensure that no weight is gained, and consuming fewer calories than are burned does not guarantee weight loss. Nevermind that weight gain and loss is a rather poor measure of overall health (remember that starvation, parasite infection and hundreds of other diseases lead to weight loss, too).
For an in-depth look at this, here's a fascinating video of Gary Taubes, scientific researcher and author of Good Calories, Bad Calories (a title he admits is inappropriate but that he adopted it, bowing to pressures from American marketing people; the book is called The Diet Delusion in the UK). In the video, Taubes explains the failings of the calorie model, and more specifically, how wrong our conception is that obesity is caused by eating too much. It's a long video (one hour), but it is quite illuminating and well worth watching.
One of my biggest complaints about calorie counting is that it distorts our conception of food. Calories are energy and energy is a good thing. It's how we fuel ourselves, all our actions, our ability to think, emote and interact with the world. Yet, since its inception, the calorie counting diet craze has encouraged us to look on calories as the bad guy -- you want to eat, but you want to minimize your calorie intake, according to the "health experts." As if eating is a pastime, and calories are an unfortunate side-effect.
Only this type of thinking could have brought us to the idea of the "diet beverage." It's got all the sweetness of a sugary beverage, but no calories. It also has no nutrients, no food value and no real explanation for why one would want to drink it, but that doesn't seem to stop this stuff from leaving grocery stores by the case. After all, who wouldn't want to indulge in the delicious sweetness of a soda with absolutely zero consequences?
Ironic, then, that in a recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association called Artificially Sweetened Beverages: Cause for Concern, Harvard professor David S. Ludwig, MD, PhD, pointed out that artificial sweeteners not only confuse our taste buds and change our appreciation for a range of tastes, but they also lead to weight gain. Ludwig cites studies showing that by dissociating the taste of sweet with our body's natural expectation of calories, the no-cal sweetener consumer may disrupt the system that regulates hunger and body weight.
The author also maintains that, in nature, sweet foods are normally nutritious. We've introduced foods into our diet that don't exist in nature, that are sweet but give no fuel, and this interferes with the body's complex pathways of weight regulation. "Although many synthetic chemicals have been added to the food supply in recent years, artificial sweeteners in beverages stand out in their ability to interact with evolutionarily ancient sensorineural pathways at remarkably high affinity," writes Ludwig. There is bound to be some side effects in messing with our foods in this way.
Ludwig also illustrates that we don't really know what the long term effects of artificial sweeteners are in regards to obesity. Studies have tended to focus on cancer and other chronic disease, whereas few have looked into long term weight gain. "If trends in consumption continue, the nation will, in effect, have embarked on a massive, uncontrolled, and inadvertent public health experiment". I would argue that this experiment is already well under way.
I think this is simply more evidence that the calorie counting model, along with all the processed, artificially manipulated foods it seems inseparable from, is just too simplistic a model to be utilized. How many more years of ineffective low-calorie dieting must we endure before we realize that it just doesn't work? There are far too many other factors to take into account, the biological effect of artificial ingredients among them. The end may be just around the corner in our search for the reasons for our rising obesity rates, but first we need to ditch the old model.
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