About a third of the adults and children in the United States are overweight or obese. Both of these conditions can cause serious health problems such as heart disease, diabetes, and increased blood pressure. Obesity refers to the condition by which an individual has an excessive amount of body fat. Fortunately, there are many ways to treat this disorder. A commonly recommended and used method would be to go on a diet. Diets involve a restricted meal plan that aims to help people lose weight. But just how effective are they at doing so? Although many people would argue that diets do work, a lot of people have also reported that going on a diet did not help them lose weight. A recent study may offer an explanation as to why the effectiveness of diets in terms of weight loss vary so much.
Image Source: Trinette Reed
Researchers have found that universal, or “one size fits all”, diets do not work because not all individuals respond to foods in the same way. Many diets are currently designed on information provided by the glycemic index, which ranks food based on how they affect blood sugar levels. Keeping track of one’s blood sugar level is important since a high measurement may be indicative of diabetes. However, researchers in this study have found that the glycemic index of food can vary for each individual and may be unreliable for establishing universal diets. As a result, an individual can easily be given wrong advice by choosing to follow a generic diet that has not been specifically tuned for him or her.
But just how substantial are these unique individual responses to food in terms of an assigned diet’s effect on one’s health? A middle-aged woman who had been unsuccessful in the past with a variety diets in attempts to treat her obesity was chosen to participate in the study. The researchers discovered that her blood sugar levels would sharply increase after she consumed tomatoes. Tomatoes just happened to be part of her recommended diet, and as a result, she was unknowingly causing herself harm by eating what she thought was good for her.
The results of this study are important for people thinking about going on a diet. Generic diets are not suitable for many people and can cause more harm than good. However, by taking into consideration how an individual responds to food, one may be able to find a diet that works effectively towards the goal of losing weight.
Feature Image Source: Tomato by Emyr Jones
