The biggest 'cut out carbs to lose fat' myth in bodybuilding DEBUNKED:

[jay94]

'You should cut out carbs, especially sugar, from your diet if your goal is to lose fat. Sugar increases insulin production, which in turn increases fat storage.' - One of the biggest myths in fitness. Here's three reasons why:

1) Virtually all nutrients can trigger physiological mechanisms that will result in nutrients ultimately being stored as fat.
The 'system' in your body that is responsible for the proliferation of all tissue cells, including those of adipose and skeletal muscle tissues, is a multi-protein complex known as mechanistic target of ramapycin complex 1 (mTORC1). mTORC1 commands all the complex bioprocesses that eventually result in the creation of new tissue in the human body. Its good functioning depends on five things: a) cellular energy (ATP, glucose); b) growth factors such as insulin and insulin-like growth factor 1 (igf-1); c) the essential branched chain amino acid (BCAA) leucine; d) the amino acid glutamine, which works synergystically with leucine by ensuring mTORC1 pathway leucine uptake; e) satturated fatty acids.
So, as you can see, insulin is just one of five factors that can cause increased fat storage.

2) Carbohydrate is merely one of many nutrients that can increase the pancreatic rate of insulin secretion.
Carbohydrates are, by nature, insulinogenic, because pancreatic secretion of growth factors is directly glucose-dependent: when there is insufficient cellular energy to carry out a physiological process, which could be literally anything, be it an intracellular transfer, an extracellular transfer, or a contraction of any kind, the body responds by producing insulin, which will transport the nutrients until they reach the biochemical pathway that will ultimately result in the beginning of the tricarboxylic acid cycle, from which ATP is mainly produced.
Does that mean that insulin secretion is solely controlled by glucose inputs and outputs? No, not at all. In fact, amino acids, particularly the whey-derived ones, are also highly insulinogenic, and when you combine them with glucose or other short monosaccharide chains, you get foods that are at the top of the Insulinogenic Index, such as whole milk. One of the reasons for this is that whey-derived amino acids increase the production of metabolic hormones known as glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and gastric inhibitory polypeptide (GIP). The main function of GLP-1 and GIP is to induce insulin secretion and increase insulin sensitivity in a glucose-dependent manner. This is important, because it means, simply put, that the more glucose is present in the bloodstream, and the more insulin will be secreted thanks to these enteroendocrine hormones. However, their role is also to mediate the effects of glucose, by decreasing glucagon secretion (which in turn decreases the stored glycogen rate of conversion to glucose) and by increasing satiety in the brain. In other words, carbohydrates are not very insulinogenic on their own, but even when they act in synergistic manner with amino acids, the insulinotropic effects of the latter are still being mediated by feedback mechanisms. In conclusion, carbohydrates are certainly not the only nutrient to increase insulin production, but that is not necessarily a bad thing.

3) Increased insulin secretion- and sensitivity-induced increases in adipose tissue uptake rate of triglycerides are mediated by cellular energy input.
This is by far the most important point. Insulin secretion, as well as the ingestion of any nutrient, can definitely result in increased fat storage. The mTORC1 pathway can and will cause nutrients to be stored as triglycerides in fat tissue, but whether it does or not depends almost exclusively on the amount of cellular energy available from nutrients at a given time. The mTORC1 pathway conversion of nutrients to adipocytes is comparatively inefficient, and unless given a unecessary large supply of energy, it will always convert them for other means instead. This is partly due to biomechanical reasons, but also because the production of fat cells beyond a certain point is actually viewed as harmful by the body; an increase in fat tissue also results in increased production of adipose-derived hormones, such as leptin, adiponectin and adipose tissue-specific secretory factor (ADSF). These hormones are needed in very small amounts for the body to function and can easily become harmful. For example, too much leptin, in the long run, creates a vicious circle of continuously and simultaneously increasing leptin and insulin resistances (which typically results in type 2 diabetes mellitus and other metabolic diseases); ADSF increases the production of low density lipoprotein cholesterols, which can cause heart disease; etc. In short, all the factors that cause tissue growth are cellular energy input-dependent, and thus, it's almost exclusively this factor that determines the type of growth you get, perhaps regardless of the metabolic effects of the other factors discussed.


TL;DR:

1) Virtually all nutrients can cause an increase in the rate at which nutrients are stored in fat tissue, and increased insulin production is merely one mechanism through which they do so.

2) All nutrients can increase insulin production and sensitivity, not just carbohydrates. In fact, whey-derived amino acids might be even more insulinotropic than carbohydrates, due to their glucose-dependent ability to increase entoendocrine hormone-induced insulin production and sensitivity.

3) And, most importantly, whether an increase in insulin production and sensitivity lead to a subsequent increase in the fat tissue uptake rate of triglycerides depends almost exclusively on cellular energy input. If there is no excess of energy, then the mTORC1 pathway will never convert nutrients to fat tissue.

[tarmyg]

Please link your source, in this case, Reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/bodybuildin...ly_sugar_from/) as I assume you did not write this pile of horseshit yourself.

[austinite]

Thanks, tarmyg.

[jay94]

I am dustofoblivion123 on reddit. I can send you a PM on reddit as proof. I wrote this on the AdvancedFitness subreddit originally and then posted it here as well.

I actually study Biochemistry and Pharmacology too, this is how I know these things.

[RaginCajun]

i read the comments on reddit, hahaha!

[jay94]

i read the comments on reddit, hahaha!

Yeah, it was my attempt at helping people become more knowledgeable about the science of nutrition, but on the bodybuilding sub it failed miserably, partly, I think, because I didn't explain it as simply as I had originally wanted to. I realize it now but it's way too late.

[Brett N]

Helping people ?

Your post comes off like reading a medical journal. I can promise you that nobody besides yourself read the whole thing.

[lovbyts]

Helping people ?

Your post comes off like reading a medical journal. I can promise you that nobody besides yourself read the whole thing.

If it's more than 2 sentences (short sentence) I usually give it a pass. The exception being of course sex related.

[David LoPan]

I read some of it but no sex....WTf lovbyts, after 210 post he should know better