A few years ago, a Kansas State University professor lost a reported 27lbs on a sugar heavy, Twinkie, diet….What did he prove, if anything?

We often hear of the evils of sugar. Sugar is the new source of all obesity and all manners of illness. If that’s the case, how could a university professor lose 20+lbs on a diet where a significant portion was sugar laden junk food?

That absolutely flies in the face of the current sugar fad. Not only did he lose weight eating things like Twinkies and donuts, several of his health markers improved!

Does that disprove the sugar claims? Is weight loss entirely calories in and calories out? What conclusions can be drawn?

Let’s take a look at a few of the finer details and see what we can reasonably conclude….

The ‘study’ consisted of one person over a period of two months. That’s one person’s experience and a relatively short duration. The diet itself consisted of junk food as reported and veggies, meat, protein shakes and a multivitamin supplement. In short, the diet was not atypical of Western society. He did not subsist entirely on Twinkies and other snack cakes. Professor Haub’s diet was a mix of junk food, quality real food, protein shakes and supplements. Does that sound like your diet?

The diet was a significant restriction in calories. The professor’s maintenance level was around 2,600 calories and during the experiment, he restricted himself to 1,800 calories a day. That’s a fair drop. It wasn’t ultra low calorie, but a decent drop nonetheless. Professor Haub’s starting BMI was 29 (obese) and had dropped to 25 at the completion of the experiment. Total weight loss was 27lbs. To be fair, that’s a pretty respectable drop in two months!! The professor DID lose weight while eating junk food. That’s a hard fact.

As a nutrition professor, I would argue, that Haub was far better mentally prepared for the hunger and discomfort that ensued from his diet experiment. His diet was high in calorie dense/nutrition low/hyper-palatable foods. (ie. Junkfood). Knowing what to expect puts him well ahead of the typical consumer going on a diet…. Mindset is huge when making significant changes.

Unfortunately, the short duration of the experiment tells us nothing of the long term effects of a similar diet. Had the managed to stay on the diet, how would his health have fared? Given the mental challenges, how sustainable would that caloric restriction have been? As mentioned, junk food is very calorie dense and nutrient poor. It is also highly palatable and very easy to overeat. That’s one of the biggest issues of junk food… It’s very easy to overindulge.

So what can we conclude? The human body is a supremely complex system and we (the public) spend way too much time looking for that single magic bullet. (Highly processed) sugar can contribute to obesity and other illnesses, but it is not the source of all our ills. I saw this quote a while back and it does a great job summarizing many competing approaches out there.

“Food QUANTITY for weight management… food QUALITY for health and vitality… You’d better get BOTH of them right if you want to be lean AND healthy for life.” – Tom Venuto