Hormonal
Diets high in rapidly digestible carbohydrates increase the insulin-to-glucagon ratio, shifting energy partitioning toward adipose storage and away from metabolically active tissues, which triggers compensatory hunger and reduced metabolic rate.
To manage weight, focus on reducing rapidly digestible carbohydrates (refined grains, added sugars) to lower insulin levels. This prevents the hormonal trapping of energy in fat cells and reduces the biological drive to overeat and slow metabolism.
A diet high in rapidly digestible carbohydrates raises the insulin-to-glucagon ratio, shifting energy partitioning towards storage in adipose, leaving fewer calories for metabolically active and fuel sensing tissues. Consequently, hunger increases, and metabolic rate slows in the body’s attempt to conserve energy.
Why this rating
The paper is an opinion piece citing short-term trials and animal models, but acknowledges lack of long-term human evidence for the specific mechanism.
Source
Carbohydrate-insulin model: does the conventional view of obesity reverse cause and effect?
David S. Ludwig · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · 2023
DOI 10.1098/rstb.2022.0211
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