Topics of conference
Gary Taubes
Why We Get Fat: Adiposity 101 and the alternative hypothesis of obesity
Since the 1950s, caloric imbalance has been perceived as a driving force in weight regulation.
Virtually all research on obesity and its related chronic diseases is predicated on this notion. Prior to
World War II, though, European clinicians argued that obesity was caused by a defect in the
regulation of fat tissue metabolism. By the 1960s, it was clear that fat accumulation is fundamentally
regulated by the hormone insulin, which in turn is secreted primarily in response to the
carbohydrates in our diet. As such, a reasonable hypothesis is that adiposity is regulated by insulin
and the carbohydrate content of the diet. This would implicate the quality and quantity of dietary
carbohydrates as determinants of health and disease, more so than the total caloric intake. A simple
revision our underlying assumption about the causes of weight gain has profound and far-reaching
implications.
Tim Noakes
Low carbohydrate diet in the management of insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia
The fatal weakness of modern medicine is that it is largely helpless when treating the chronic
diseases of the modern industrial society - specifically the so-called "chronic diseases of lifestyle"
including obesity, diabetes, atherosclerotic heart disease, hypertension, cancer and dementia. The
reason it seems to me is abundantly clear. These are not separate diseases if indeed they are
diseases. Rather they are all manifestations of the same underlying process - the response of insulinresistant individuals to decades, perhaps generations, of diets that contain excessive amounts of
insulin-stimulating carbohydrates and too little fat. We will reverse this global catastrophe only when
the majority of us - medical doctors, health and nutritional scientists, dietitians - acknowledge our
own regrettable contributions. This should never have happened.
Axel F Sigurðsson
Cardiovascular Prevention; Getting to the Heart of the Matter Reflecting on the changing
landscape in cardiovascular prevention in an era dominated by an epidemic of obesity and
type 2 diabetes.
What's the the role of blood lipids, insulin resistance and inflammation? How should current
knowledge affect dietary recommendations? Should drug treatment still be used in preventing
disease?
Denise Minger
In Defense of Low Fat:
In recent years, the anti-fat sentiment that once dominated nutritional thought has shifted
towards an anti-carbohydrate one—placing excess carbohydrate consumption at the root of our
modern disease and obesity crises. This presentation challenges the theory that carbohydrates are
truly responsible for these epidemics, exploring the paradoxical evidence of very high carbohydrate,
low fat diets reversing the very diseases we've come to blame them for. By questioning ideologies of
both the past and present and discarding lingering dogma, we can end our "macronutrient witchhunt" and strengthen our strategy for improving human health.
Aseem Malhotra
Sugar: Advocacy or activism
Does sugar deserve it's title as public health enemy number one in the western diet? Is sugar
really the new tobacco? Is the science implicating the role of excess sugar consumption on chronic
disease sufficient to exert positive changes on population health through education and awareness?
What are the obstacles from industry and how are they overcome? What role does government
play?
The Big Sugar and Big Tobacco corporate tactics are very similar, with comparable health
consequences, hence the suggestion that “sugar is the new tobacco”. Aseem Malhotra (Action on
Sugar, London, UK) discusses aggressive media campaigns, opposition from industry to reform and
regulation and the role of government insiders with links to industry.
Tommy Wood
Preventing a reversing chronic disease – it's not (just) about the diet
All you need to do is "eat less and exercise more". For decades doctors and health
professional have told us that this is the key to long-term health and weight loss. But it's not true. We
now know that the quality of our food, and the effect that it has on our biochemistry and physiology,
is at least as important as the amount of food that we eat. Thankfully, this has led to the reversal of
previous guidelines that told us to eat less saturated fat, and avoid cholesterol. But while we
celebrate the return of butter to our plates, we continue to be obsessed with rules, like cutting out
gluten, or counting carbs. Though these things are often important, there are many aspects of our
lives that we neglect to think about when we focus so intently on our diet. This is the time when we
need to remind ourselves that there's so much more to life, and so much more to health, than the
food that we eat.