How the Government Makes You Fat: Gary Taubes on Obesity, Carbs, and Bad Science

"The government can come along and, with all the best intentions, cause enormous problems" says Gary Taubes, a science writer and author most recently of Why We Get Fat And What To Do About It .

Reason.tv's Zach Weissmueller talked with Taubes about his controversial work in the world of nutrition and epidemiology, including Taubes' hypothesis that carbohydrates, not dietary fat, overeating, or lack of physcial activity, are the primary factor causing obesity. Other topics include the inability of governments and large informational institutions such as the American Heart Association to adapt to new information, the mess of bad legislation and bad science that Taubes believes led to America's obesity problem, and why many libertarians seem to love the Paleo Diet .

Taubes' work has unsurprisingly invited criticism from scientists, government officials and journalists, even in the pages of Reason Magazine, where he went back and forth with Reason contributor Michael Fumento. Read below and decide for yourself who, if anyone, is right:

Fumento on Taubes - http://reason.com/archives/2003/03/01...

Taubes' response - http://reason.com/archives/2003/03/01...

Fumento's rebuttal - http://reason.com/archives/2003/03/01...

Approximately 9:30. Interview and Editing by Zach Weissmueller. Visit http://reason.tv for downloadable versions and subscribe to ReasonTV's YouTube Channel to receive notifications when new material goes live.

• Category

  News & Politics

[Reymundo Valois]

Is it just me or Gary Taubes remind you of an older Owen Wilson :o

[MrLovePumpUK]

People argue about the science of low or high carb and the cals in cals out debate. All I know is I spent three years exercising like crazy and eating 1500 cals per day. I lost next to nothing! the math just doesn't work does it? I switched to a low carb diet three weeks ago and lost 12lb in the first two weeks alone without any significant exercise (snow). After only one week I was 7kph average quicker over a 30km road bike course. I cant believe what a difference it made.

[hurrhurrdurr3]

You probably didn't eat 1500kcal. kcal restriction has been proven to work in controlled environments. But what kind of kcals matters in terms of adherence to kcal restriction, which is the problem in the real world.

Refs. (just google them):

N Engl J Med. 1992 Dec 31;327(27):1893-8.

Metabolism. 1964 Mar;13:195-204.

J Am Diet Assoc. 2004 Jul;104(7):1151-3.

[1123notae]

Read CarbSane

[mdak06]

Low carb has become popular because it WORKS for many people. I lost over 200 lbs. doing a low carb plan and personally know others who have had similar results.

[mdak06]

I think whenever someone says "best intentions" regarding government programs, he's giving a program's supporters the benefit of the doubt, because in many cases they are actually interested in the purported benefits of a program. For some people involved in government (and those who support various programs), it's a fair thing to do. For others, it is unwarranted.

[jimhunt81]

The government has been wrong SO MANY TIMES, and I see no reason why we should trust them any further. We can't build a monolithic diet based on what a skinny white South Dakota Senator (George McGovern) said to do. Instead, we need to be researching our genetics, and figuring out what works for us best. In my case I'm prone to be fat, and paleo works for me.

[Matt Woodford]

Best intentions?

[michealsoft72]

God Bless Gary. He's doing life saving, world changing work.

[Sunita Thapa]

They laughed when I told them I would shed pounds with the Skinnimaker Diet, but then I showed them the results. Go google the Skinnimaker Diet to see their reaction.

[Dawn Richardson]

He is Journalist but his research is pretty bang on, and i like the man..he knows his stuff..watch all his videos.. There are other's following suit South Beach diet & Paleo. Atkins diet is just the Old Diabetic diet.. but they are not permitted to go into Ketosis for obvious reasons..they don't make insulin. Type 1 Diabetics..All carbs turn to sugar effectively .. Insulin does not metabolize Fat that why we can eat it. Protein's in large amount does. so we need a balance.

[Beavis1260]

Check out Good Calories, Bad Calories. Or if you don't have time for 500 pages of dense, scientific text, then try Why We Get Fat (both are by Gary Taubes featured in this video). You'll be nodding your head in agreement and amazement the entire time.