#570: Fructose: Metabolism, Claims & Context for Risk – Scott Harding, PhD
Listen Here: For a full list of apps, go here. Or simply search “Sigma Nutrition” in your app of choice.Or listen directly on the Sigma website here. Introduction Fructose has often been labeled a uniquely damaging nutrient, blamed for obesity, diabetes, and other metabolic diseases. But does fructose truly have unique harmful effects or are […]
#567: Did Big Sugar Hijack the Food Pyramid? Were Low-fat Diets a Scam that Damaged Our Health?
Listen Here: For a full list of apps, go here. Or simply search “Sigma Nutrition” in your app of choice.Or listen directly on the Sigma website here. Introduction For decades, dietary guidelines—and the Food Pyramid in particular—have been at the center of heated debates and considerable controversy. These guidelines have often been accused of being […]
#545: Carbohydrate Metabolism, Performance & Metabolic Health – Prof. Javier Gonzalez
Listen Here: For a full list of apps, go here. Or simply search “Sigma Nutrition” in your app of choice.Or listen directly on the Sigma website here. Introduction Carbohydrate metabolism and metabolic health have become central themes in the science of nutrition, with questions about fuel utilization, the impact of different diets, and the potential […]
#539: How Does Carbohydrate Availability Impact Resistance Training? – Cliff Harvey, PhD & Eric Helms, PhD
Listen Here: For a full list of apps, go here. Or simply search “Sigma Nutrition” in your app of choice.Or listen directly on the Sigma website here. Introduction Some suggest that, since individual lifts or short-duration efforts don’t rely heavily on glycogen, carb intake might not be critical for strength athletes. If glycogen depletion isn’t […]
#486: Blood Glucose Spikes: How High is Too High? – Mario Kratz, PhD & Nicola Guess, PhD
Introduction Peaks in blood glucose (or “blood sugar spikes”) are commonly highlighted as something harmful to health. And, of course, an excessively high blood glucose response to a meal can be problematic, or at least indicate there is a problem. However, elevations in blood glucose after eating are a normal physiological response. And “bad” blood […]
SNP18: What is a Healthy Low-Carb Diet?
In this episode, Danny discusses what health outcomes may result from low-carb diets, and what distinguishes a “healthy low-carb diet” from an “unhealthy low-carb diet”. This includes some pragmatic tips for nutritionists, health professionals and consumers, who are choosing to use a low-carbohydrate diet.
#480: How Much Fiber Do We Need for Good Health? – Prof. Joanne Slavin
How much fiber do we actually need? What are current fiber recommendations based on? What outcomes have the strongest evidence for benefit? Should we have targets for fiber sub-types? Are some types of fiber “better” than others? Do functional fibers added to food products still retain the benefits we see with dietary fiber?
#476: Fructose in Perspective – Dietary Villain or Misunderstood Nutrient?
In this episode we discuss the unique aspects of fructose metabolism, why some studies appear to show unique harm of fructose, and the implications of this for dietary choices.
#468: High Sugar Intakes Without Excess Calories: Harmful or Benign?
In a situation where someone is not overconsuming calories or gaining weight, what health impacts do added sugars have?
#434: Is a Vegan Diet Really Best for Diabetes?
Many different diets have been put forward as solutions that treat type 2 diabetes. Some will claim the diet “reverses” diabetes, some say it puts it into “remission”, while others more conservatively recommend a diet to manage diabetes symptoms in a healthy way.
There has been some debate on the use of terms like reversal, cure or resolution. And recently more clarity has been found in defining each.
One of the diets that has been recommended by some for the purposes of “reversing” or treating diabetes is a low-fat, whole food plant-based (WFPB) diet. Specifically, there is a claim that it is superior to other diets in treating diabetes. Some of these claims relate to popular online diet & lifestyle programs that use such a diet. While there is also a number of studies that are commonly cited in support of the claims.
In this episode, we evaluate these claims by looking at the published research in this area, across epidemiology, human intervention trials and mechanistic rationale. We also ponder what it means for something to be the “best” diet to treat a chronic disease.
#429: Kevin Hall, PhD & Stephan Guyenet, PhD – Carbohydrate-Insulin Model vs. Energy Balance Model
The pathogenesis of obesity is clearly complex. And the need to have a comprehensive model to explain this pathogenesis is important. One such model, termed the Energy Balance Model, has largely been the consensus paradigm of obesity scientists to this point. However, there are others who propose that this is not the correct model of obesity, but rather that obesity pathogenesis can be better explained by a model called the Carbohydrate-Insulin Model (CIM) of obesity.
#385: Insulin Resistance & Diet
In this episode we explore the causes of insulin resistance, and the dietary modifications that may help those with insulin resistance.