If you’re interested in theories around weight gain and the debate between the evils of sugar/carbs in your diet compared to the effects of fat, then tune into Sugar v Fat on BBC2 tonight, Wednesday, at 9pm.
Twins Alexander and Chris Van Tulleken, both cyclists, set out on an experiment to find out which is worse.
Both allowed to eat as much as they liked; Alexander did not eat any carbohydrates – essentially no sugar - and Chris was only permitted a minimal amount of fat in his diet.
The differences in their diets aside, they underwent the same type and same intensity of exercise during the period of the experiment and lived very similar lives.
All of this, combined with identical genetics, meant any changes in their bodies over the period would be attributable to their diets alone.
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Without sugar, including those in foods like fruit and vegetables, Alexander said he felt slow and tired and that his breath stank. While he was never hungry, his diet was joyless and he also did not feel mentally sharp.
Chris, on his low-fat diet, was always hungry.
A mental test was set for both which consisted of mock trading on the stock market, where low-fat Chris thrashed carbs/sugar-free Alexander by 3 to 1 in terms of their earnings during the game.
Both were then put through their physical paces by head of nutrition at Team Sky Nigel Mitchell, during which Chris thrashed Alexander again.
“So, even though I seemed to be losing more weight, everything became harder to do,” Alexander said of his experience giving up sugar-carbs.
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“And the tests we did to assess our levels of blood fats and risk of diabetes at the end of the diets revealed an astonishing and concerning truth about how my body had been fueling itself in the absence of carbs.”
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While he was getting some energy from the protein in his diet, some was probably coming from the breaking down of his own muscle.
He added the experiment showed that while you can lose a lot of weight, as he did, on a low-carb diet; that isn't necessarily good for you.
“You can lose weight on a low-fat diet as well, as Chris did - but over the long term unregulated consumption of sugar may also have negative health consequences.
“The most interesting thing we found was that we were asking the wrong question. It's not which is worse for you, fat or sugar, but rather which foods are making so many of us gain weight and why?"
Their conclusions?
“If you want to lose weight it will be much easier if you avoid processed foods made with sugar and fat. These foods affect your brain in a completely different way from natural foods and it's hard for anyone to resist eating too much.
“And any diet that eliminates fat or sugar will be unpalatable, hard to sustain and probably be bad for your health, too.”
Sugar v Fat on BBC2 tonight, Wednesday, at 9pm.
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