A review of the carbohydrate–insulin model of obesity

• Published in: European journal of clinical nutrition Vol. 71; no. 3; pp. 323 - 326
• Main Author: Hall, K D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.03.2017; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/443/319/1642/393; 692/308; Adipose tissue; Adiposity; Appetite; Bioenergetics; Body Weight; Carbohydrates; Clinical Nutrition; Diet; Dietary Carbohydrates - administration & dosage; Energy balance; Energy Metabolism; Energy storage; Epidemiology; High carbohydrate diet; Humans; Hunger; Insulin; Insulin - blood; Insulin - metabolism; Insulin Secretion; Internal Medicine; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metabolic Diseases; Models, Biological; Nutrition; Obesity; Obesity - blood; Oxidation; Physiological aspects; Physiological research; Public Health; review; Starvation
• ISSN: 0954-3007; 1476-5640
• DOI: 10.1038/ejcn.2016.260

The carbohydrate–insulin model of obesity theorizes that diets high in carbohydrate are particularly fattening due to their propensity to elevate insulin secretion. Insulin directs the partitioning of energy toward storage as fat in adipose tissue and away from oxidation by metabolically active tissues and purportedly results in a perceived state of cellular internal starvation. In response, hunger and appetite increases and metabolism is suppressed, thereby promoting the positive energy balance associated with the development of obesity. Several logical consequences of this carbohydrate–insulin model of obesity were recently investigated in a pair of carefully controlled inpatient feeding studies whose results failed to support key model predictions. Therefore, important aspects of carbohydrate–insulin model have been experimentally falsified suggesting that the model is too simplistic. This review describes the current state of the carbohydrate–insulin model and the implications of its recent experimental tests.