Yes it’s personal!
Maybe you saw it on facebook, or had a friend tell you about it at lunch, or your boss announced it at the last staff meeting. we’ve all seen or heard of other peoples success stories when it comes to weight loss due to a new found diet that is ‘amazing!’ If you have doubted your dietary choices after hearing someone else’s story, you can put those thoughts at bay. According to a new study just because a diet worked for your friend, it doesn’t mean it’ll work for you. Hurray!
In Personalized Nutrition by Prediction of Glycemic Response, a group of medical professionals conducted a study on 800 individuals analyzing the digestion of over 46,000 meals and found that when two people have the identical meal, it can get metabolized totally differently. So, lets say that your blood sugar spikes after eating a powerbar, it just may be, that your friend will experience no spike in blood sugar level after eating the very same thing. This is regardless of the sugar or carbohydrate content you read on the package of said powerbar. This could be revolutionary for sufferers of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes who’s life expectancy depends on eating foods that lower their blood sugar content.
This could be a spanner in the works for internationally promoted diets like the popular Atkins or Paleo diets. These diets are not personalized for each individual, instead they provide blanket rules on what to consume and not consume. This study suggests that a diet like that, will not necessarily lead to healthy digestion, lowering of blood sugar levels or other outcomes that are important for weight loss and prevention of diseases like type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
The best way to effect healthier change in regard to weight loss or blood sugar levels according to this study, is to find out how foods are metabolized in your system and your system alone. “We devised a machine-learning algorithm that integrates blood parameters, dietary habits, anthropometrics, physical activity, and gut microbiota,” the study reads. “it accurately predicts personalized postprandial glycemic response to real-life meals.”
So ask your doctor about finding out what your body’s response is to certain foods and you can stop worrying about what everyone else is eating.
