Carbophobia

Carbophobia Article SCI Human Biology - 1 Assigned: 10/8 Due: 10/9 Read the NYT article via the link below.

Why is it called Carbophobia? Gina Kolata argues that we have a fear of carbohydrates, like in Taubes's book __Good Calories, Bad Calories__ that avows the best diet is one very low in carbs.

The author Gary Taubes has just written a book called....__Good Calories, Bad Calories: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom on Diet, Weight Control, and Disease__ Taubes argues that the best diet is high in calories from and **__proteins and fat___** but low in calories from **carbohydrates**. Taubes thinks there are three important diet myths. Too much dietary fat causes ....heart disease Lack of dietary fiber causes ...cancer Too much dietary salt causes ...high blood pressure Taubes argues that calories from **sugar** are worse than calories from **fat**_. But what evidence suggests that a calorie is a calorie regardless of the source? **Jules Hirsch of Rockefeller University and Rudolph Leibel of Columbia, by hospitalizing subjects and giving them controlled diets it was determined composition of the diet made no difference when trying to maintain weight.** Click on "diabetes". What is diabetes? **a disease - "the body does not produce or properly use insulin"** What causes diabetes? **no one knows exactly but doctors do know that environment factors and genetics are major factors (ex. obesity or not exercising)** What is the normal role of insulin? **a hormone that "converts sugar, starches, and other foods into energy needed for daily life"** What are some differences between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes? **Type 1 - body fails to produce insulin; Type 2 - insulin resistance: body does not properly use insulin plus there is an apparent deficiency** source: http://www.diabetes.org/home.jsp**
 * I have a downloaded version...

Click on "obesity". What is the BMI range for an obese person? **adult's BMI is >30** overweight? **25 - 29.9 BMI** What percentage of Americans are overweight? **64.5% of Americans over 20 are overweight** How has the percentage of obese adolescents changed? **Between two different surveys, the first taken between 1976 - 1980 and the second between 2003 - 2004, the percentage of obese adolescents has increased.**
 * source: http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/ & American Obesity Association**

Click on "colon cancer". **Colon cancer is cancer occurring in the colon or rectum** Where does the colon begin? **Connected to the cecum the colon makes up most of the large intestine.** End? **Sigmoid colon enters the rectum (final 20 cm of large intestine)** Look on this page, who recently had 5 polyps removed from his colon? **Bush** What is a colon polyp? ****"Polyp -** An abnormal, often precancerous growth of tissue (colorectal polyps are growths of tissue inside the intestine)." **
 * source: http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/colorectal/basic_info/ & book**

Click on "cholesterol" What is cholesterol? **a "waxy, fat like substance"** What is its function? **produce cell membrane, some hormones, and is needed for the body to function properly** What is a side effect of cholesterol in your diet? **when there is too much cholesterol it accumulates in the arteries and can cause a narrowing of the arteries leading directly to the heart (ie. causing heart disease)** What are food sources high in cholesterol? **foods with saturated fats, trans fats, and/or dietary cholesterol** What is LDL? **low density lipoproteins - carry cholesterol through blood stream; builds up in the arteries causing heart disease** What is HDL? **high-density lipoproteins - carry cholesterol back to liver so as to remove it from the body** What percentage of your diet should be fat? **25-35% of total fat in diet** What percentage of the diet is fat for the average American? **around 45%, the National Cholesterol Education Program suggests it should be 30%** Which diet had more food (the average American diet or the Low-fat diet? Why? **An average American diet will have more food because it is jam packed with condiments and extras such as butter** **source: http://www.cdc.gov/cholesterol/ & http://www.americanheart.org/**