GET FIT IN THE KITCHEN
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- King’s College London and Massachusetts General Hospital
ONE SIZE
FITS FEW
Preliminary results from
an extensive study into
individual metabolic
responses to food
suggest a standardised
approach to nutrition is
rarely best for everyone.^1
The study involved over
1,100 people, including
479 identical twins, who
were given meals that
were heavy in either
sugar or fat in an effort to
see how they responded.
The results so far
contradict the concept
of a universal ‘healthy’
diet. Identical twins, who
share the same DNA,
did not metabolise foods
in the same way, the
researchers said. In fact,
they found no similarities
between the way identical
twins metabolised meals
that were high in fat and
only about a 30 per cent
association in the way
they metabolised sugar.
Based on these fi ndings,
knowing how a person
metabolises sugar will
not help explain how they
might also metabolise fat.
“There is a lot of variability
in the ways in which
healthy people react
to food,” Tim Spector,
a professor of genetic
epidemiology at King’s
College London and
the lead author of the
study, told ABC News.
As a result, Spector
said, “Current nutritional
guidelines are unlikely to
be helpful for most.”