Once again, I am reflecting on the research surrounding “diets.” First of all, I hate the word diet. It involves some kind of rigorous eating plan that, once completed, will solve all your health problems and somehow miraculously allow you to return to your old habits. Or it alludes to something you get up and down a few times a year in hopes of staving off weight gain.
Diet is actually defined as the foods that a person or animal usually eats. In that sense, the way we use diet is totally wrong. For most, “diets” have a foreseeable end, while a diet is really the way you eat most of the time.
There are numerous “diets” or ways of eating that are being advertised. Who hasn’t heard of the ketogenic diet by now? There are also paleo, Mediterranean, low carb, macrobiotic, vegetarian, vegan, etc. All of these all your plan is the “way” everyone should eat. It can be extremely confusing. It’s like choosing your own diet adventure.
Naturally, as a dietitian, everyone wants to know what I consider to be the BEST diet. Some are disappointed when I don’t give a clear and firm answer on the matter. You see, the reason I keep mulling over several of these diets is because I’ve seen through countless client encounters that many diets, as healthy as they may seem, it just doesn’t work for some people. I’ve had people come in, desperate for help, because the “healthy” diet they’ve followed to the letter is not producing weight loss results, or worse, causing increased lipid levels and decreased energy . What gives?
Recent research from Texas A&M may provide some useful results.1 They showed that in mice fed various popular diets (Standard American, Ketogenic, Japanese, Atkins, etc.), they all responded differently, some positive and some negative. In other words, some mice showed positive improvements on particular plans, while others worsened on the same diet.
The key is genetics. The researchers in this study suspect that genetic variations cause our bodies to respond better or worse to various foods and eating styles. For example, one mouse in particular did surprisingly poorly on the Japanese diet, while the rest remained in good health. Also, most did poorly on the standard American diet (as expected), but some did less poorly than others.
The take-home message is that one diet is clearly not for everyone. A diet that improves the health of one person may worsen the health of another. Many people want to promote and sell the universal “ideal” diet, and yet it is becoming increasingly clear that it does not exist. The role of genetics will only continue to become more prominent as we seek answers in the obesity epidemic and for conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171130170236.htm