The science on low-carb vs. high-carb diets

The subject of this post is pretty far afield from what I usually write about, but the book I just read is so brilliant I had to write a summary of it to post online. Americans don't exactly have healthy eating habits, so more of us could afford to know about the science behind food and nutrition. Personally, I've been profoundly ignorant of it my whole life, although in the last ten years I've at least tried to avoid an excessive intake of carbohydrates. (With the exception of beer.) The public isn't well-served by the incredible amount of bad science and misinformation about diet promoted by medical authorities. Even organizations like the American Heart Association, the American Medical Association, the Mayo Clinic, and government bodies constantly put out false or simplistic statements about healthy and unhealthy diets. This is what I learned from Gary Taubes' extraordinary book Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fat, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health (2007).

Unfortunately, it's a very dense and long book that few people would have the time or inclination to read. My lengthy summary leaves out a lot of details, but I think it captures all the main arguments and much of the fascinating science.

The science on diets.pdf

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