Comment by wdewind | Hacker News Reader

Comment by wdewind | Hacker News Reader

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Sorry I think we agree! My point is it is a psychological issue. All things being equal (calories, nutrients etc.) the speed/magnitude of the insulin response is not important for overall health (in the non-diabetic population). The study mentions things like:

> postmeal blood glucose and its long-term metabolic consequences.

and the point is there aren't long term metabolic consequences.

> but if we can put a finger on exactly what causes people to put on a few pounds it would be a significant advance in science that would affect billions of people

I totally agree! We know it's not the insulin response in and of itself that is causing weight gain, it's the subsequent increased caloric intake, so my point is by being deliberate about what we are studying we can get better results. I'm not saying we don't need to study the psychology of eating, definitely the opposite! That's really what we need to focus on, and stop worrying about the "metabolic consequences" of the insulin response.

how do you define 'metabolic consequences'? i would consider 'uncontrollaby wanting to eat more' a 'metabolic consequence'.

and how exactly do you know that the insulin response doesn't affect the psychology? that's begging the question, and that's exactly what i'm saying is erroneous about your mindset. the state of nutrition science is currently horseshit, any casual observer can see that - we need all the good science we can get.

I actually think the insulin response 100% affects psychology (which is why I think we are in agreement here, still). At this level it gets very tricky to differentiate between "just the psychology" and a physical reaction, though, and so my point is there is no evidence of any bad health effects caused directly by the insulin response. An insulin blood spike is not unhealthy for you in and of itself, but sometimes it will cause you to eat too much and that's not good for you. That gets into will power, which is the place where the mental and physical meet, and where both groups of models tend to not work particularly well. It's not well understood and it's Complicated.

I agree with you about the sorry state of nutritional science, and when it comes to diet I'd love to see a lot more resources put into the psychological (especially reward pathway/will power) aspects of it.

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