Why Most Diets Fail…

Dieting can be one of the most frustrating things ever.  You eat and exercise EXACTLY the way your friend does.  He or she loses weight and looks great—you gain weight.  How is this possible?  Many will say you must not have done the same things and that you were cheating on your diet or not working out as hard.  If you are doing the same things, you would get the same results…

Now researchers are saying this is probably not true.  New research indicates that individual genes play a role in what foods make a person fat. Dr. William Barrington, a researcher from North Carolina State University who conducted this work in the laboratory of Texas A&M University’s Dr. David Threadgill notes, “There is an overgeneralization of health benefits or risks tied to certain diets. Our study showed that the impact of the diet is likely dependent on the genetic composition of the individual eating the diet, meaning that different individuals have different optimal diets.” 

In the study, mice from different genetic strains all consumed one of several diets. For six months, the rodents received food equivalent to today’s Western diet, a traditional Japanese diet, a traditional Mediterranean diet, or a high-fat, low-carb Atkin’s-like diet known as a ketogenic diet. Additionally, some mice received standard mouse chow to act as a control group. The subjects could eat as much food as they wanted, but the researchers kept tabs on how much they consumed each day for later analysis.

They found that mice with different genetic backgrounds had different results from the same diet. Some gained weight, some did not. The researchers believe this is akin to two genetically different people eating the same diet and one getting fat and the other staying thin. Dr. Barrington adds, “We’ve largely viewed diet the same way for the last 100 years—assuming that there is one optimal diet… Now that we’ve identified that this is likely not the case, I think that in the future we will be able to identify the genetic factors involved in the varying responses to diet and use those to predict diet response in humans.”

Remember, we’re always here to help your body heal and maintain the pain free body you deserve.

This information should not be substituted for medical or chiropractic advice. Any and all health care concerns, decisions, and actions must be done through the advice and counsel of a health care professional who is familiar with your updated medical history.