Overweight Only fat makes you fat - only the fat causes weight gain?

Carbohydrates and protein do not seem to affect weight

Fat consumption is the only cause of weight gain, according to a new study. Researchers claim that carbohydrate and protein intake has no effect on body weight.

The researchers from the University of Aberdeen and the Chinese Academy of Sciences found in their recent research that consuming fat is apparently the only cause of possible weight gain. The physicians published the results of their study in the English language journal "Cell Metabolism".

Apparently, only the consumption of fats is crucial for weight gain, proteins and carbohydrates, however, have no effect. (Image: happy_lark / fotolia.com)

The study was conducted on mice

For their study, the experts examined a number of different types of diet in mice, which have a similar physiology and a similar metabolism as humans. The study included a total of 30 types of diet, whose fat, carbohydrate and protein content varied. Each of the test mice was fed the assigned diet for a period of three months, which equates to an equivalent of nine years in humans. In total, more than 100,000 measurements of body weight changes were made during the study, and the body fat of the animals was measured using a so-called micro-MRI apparatus.

Combination of sugar and fat had no greater impact than fat alone

The result of this extensive study was clear. When the mice consumed more fat in their diets, the mice grew and developed overweight or obesity, says study author Professor John Speakman of the University of Aberdeen. Ingested carbohydrates, which contain up to 30 percent of calories, had no effect on body weight. The combination of sugar and fat had no greater impact than fat alone, the expert adds.

Fat stimulates the brain to higher intake

There was also no indication that a low protein content (up to 5 percent) stimulated a higher uptake of protein. Fat in the diet on the other hand stimulated the so-called reward center in the brain to a larger intake. It's difficult to do similar studies on people because it's hard to control exactly what they're eating for long enough, says Professor Speakman.

Study provides evidence of the effects of nutrition

A clear limitation of this study is that it is based on mice rather than humans, says the expert. However, mice have many similarities with humans in their physiology and metabolism. Studies are never conducted that control human diets in the same way for so long, scientists suggest. However, the evidence provided by the current study is a good indication of the impact that different types of diet have on humans, the researchers add. (As)