News :
Obese men can't battle carbs
US NEWS.COM, July 12 2005 -- Most studies of low-carbohydrate
diets have concluded that people lose weight simply because they eat
fewer total calories. But a new study indicates that the truth about
carbohydrates may be more complicated.
Overweight men may have more trouble tolerating a high-carbohydrate
diet than overweight women, perhaps because of differences in body-fat
storage between the sexes.
And among overweight people, some have the inability to
metabolize carbohydrates efficiently. This is what scientists call "carbohydrate
intolerance." The condition can lead to more weight gain, fat accumulation
on muscle tissue, impaired lung function, a decrease in physical endurance,
and a host of metabolic disorders, including diabetes.
Researchers in the Netherlands tested the fitness levels
of 22 obese men and 34 obese women who were scheduled to undergo weight-loss
surgery by having them pedal a stationary bicycle. Each person's body
mass index was over 40—over 30 is considered "obese." The
scientists also assessed all subjects' ability to metabolize the sugar
in carbohydrates in their diets.
Among men of similar age and weight, 59 percent had overt
diabetes or were carbohydrate intolerant, but only 35 percent of the
women suffered from these disorders. The women also performed better
on exercise and lung-capacity tests compared with the men. The researchers
suggested that these results may be explained, in part, by the fact
that the men tended to carry excess weight in upper-body fat, whereas
the women gained fat in their lower bodies. Fat distribution could also
be the reason for decreased lung capacity in the men, though the precise
reasons for these gender differences are not clear.
"It is possible that women are better equipped for
energy storage due to their inherent need to feed their offspring,"
says Dave H. Schweitzer, a coauthor of the study, which will be published
in this week's edition of the journal Chest. "When food is abundant,
such as in modern society, both genders may become obese, but men simply
don't have the reserve capacity to handle excess food."
(source : www.usnews.com)
