New nutrition model to help fight obesity

Sydney: Calling for a radical rethinking of human nutrition science, scienists have developed a new framework called “nutritional geometry” which is the culmination of more than 20 years of research in the field.

According to the authors, the new model will assist health professionals, dietitians and researchers to better understand and manage the complexities of obesity. The new model shows that protein has been the strongest driver influencing diet, regulating the intake of fat and carbohydrate.

‘Nutritional geometry’ considers how mixtures of nutrients and other dietary components influence health and disease, rather than focusing on any one nutrient in isolation . The traditional approach is no longer useful in the face of modern nutrition-related diseases which are driven by an overabundance of food, an evolved fondness for foods containing particular blends of nutrients, and savvy marketing.

Conventional thinking which demonises fat, carbohydrate or sugar in isolation as causes of the obesity crisis - dubbed the single nutrient approach - has now run its course.

The ‘nutritional geometry’ framework enables us to plot foods, meals, diets and dietary patterns together based on their nutrient composition and this helps researchers to observe otherwise overlooked patterns in the links between certain diets, health and disease.

For the study, the duo plotted data for the composition of 116 diets, compiled from previous published studies examining macronutrient ratios (carbohydrate, fats and protein) and energy intake in humans.

--IANS