Nine out of 10 people who have difficulty losing weight have symptoms of blood sugar problems, according to new research.
The findings, which come from a study of some 37,000 adults in Britain and Ireland and which were released yesterday, suggest that if people use certain types of food to control blood sugar levels, losing weight may no longer be an endless battle.
The five most common symptoms of blood sugar problems reported by those surveyed were waking up tired, not being able to get going without having something sweet or a tea or coffee, craving something sweet at the end of a meal, an energy slump in the afternoon and feeling tired all the time.
While many people with no weight problem may recognise these symptoms in themselves, the survey established that people who suffered from these symptoms were three times more likely to be obese.
The research was headed up by leading British nutritionist Mr Patrick Holford, who also found "staggering" differences in weight loss among people on the same amount of calories.
This was, he said, because they were eating different carbohydrates. People on what he calls low GL (glycemic load) carbohydrates were more likely to lose weight, because low GL carbohydrates keep blood sugar levels stable.
GL scores are obtained by multiplying the quantity of carbohydrate in a serving by the quality of the carbohydrate, otherwise known as GI (glycemic index). "When blood sugar levels are low, you feel hungry. When they are too high, the body dumps the excess as fat. So the name of the game, if you want to lose weight, is to stabilise your blood sugar," he said.
His finding supports the contention of Dr Robert Atkins, who pioneered the popular but controversial low-carbohydrate Atkins diet, that obesity was caused by underlying blood sugar problems.
However, Dr Atkins's high protein diet, while effective at controlling blood sugar, has been linked to health problems such as osteoporosis.
Mr Holford claims he has come up with the perfect solution, a balanced diet which stabilises blood sugar levels and increases energy levels. He says one needs to eat no more than 40GL a day to lose weight but stresses that, because of the way they release sugars, two bowls of porridge oats and a large punnet of strawberries for breakfast have the same GL as a half-bowl of cornflakes and one-third of a banana.
"A large punnet of strawberries does the same thing to your blood sugar as one single date. This is going to be the future of all weight loss and it's totally good for you."
Mr Holford, who will be speaking in Dublin's Sugar Club on Leeson Street tonight, said most people think eating too much fat, or too many calories, makes you fat. This was not the case he said, pointing out that calorie consumption in Ireland over the last 20 years had dropped, but obesity levels were rising. The key issue was blood sugar levels, he said.