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Comment by c1u | Hacker News Reader

Here's the explanation from an expert - http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/how-we-get-fat.htm...

"Carbohydrates are rarely converted to fat (a process called de novo lipogenesis) under normal dietary conditions. There are exceptions when this occurs. One is with massive chronic overfeeding of carbs. I’m talking 700-900 grams of carbs per day for multiple days. Under those conditions, carbs max out glycogen stores, are in excess of total daily energy requirements and you see the conversion of carbohydrate to fat for storage. But this is not a normal dietary situation for most people."

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A basic text on biochemistry will educate you more than this "expert". You really should educate yourself properly instead of following random web sites that confirm your own biases.

Carbohydrates ARE converted to fat under normal dietary conditions, via insulin. If this metabolic process was "rare" as he states, then diabetics that require insulin injections wouldn't need them often.

I don't know where this "expert" is getting his information from, but it's a basic human biochemical reaction to form fat from blood glucose, via insulin.

Insulin does not cause the body to convert glucose into fat. That process is known as 'de novo lipogenesis', and Lyle is correct that it is very rare.

From a high level perspective, I agree that insulin causes the body to burn blood glucose for fuel. The extra "carbs" don't get magically converted to fat though - they're used to replenish muscle glycogen and perform other actions. It is the dietary fat ingested alongside carbohydrates that gets stored as fat in the body.

Here's a quick summary: http://examine.com/faq/how-are-carbohydrates-converted-into-....

Note: I am not an advocate of ketogenic or otherwise low carb diets. I think a calorie deficit and adequate protein intake is all that you need to lose fat. No diet can work without some sort of calorie deficit, either explicitly or indirectly induced.

>A basic text on biochemistry will educate you more than this "expert"

No, it will confirm what he said and that you are mistaken. You should try opening one and skimming through it before believing it will always support your assertions, regardless of their lack of factual basis.

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