Award winning science writer Gary Taubes was invited to speak at the University of Massachusetts Medical School Diabetes Center of Excellence by Co-Director David Harlan, MD on April 20,2016. Taubes reviewed his primary thesis that fat accumulation is driven by insulin which is stimulated by carbohydrates as opposed to the assumption that weight gain is due to a caloric energy imbalance. The USDA Dietary Guidelines have been based on the calorie imbalance point of view, but those recommendations have paralleled the drastic rise in obesity and diabetes since 1980. Taubes' work is largely responsible for a growing number of advocates for an alternative approach to treating obesity and understanding the underlying causes of world-wide population weight gain and diabetes rates. It has influenced the Healthy City Fall River approach to weight gain and underlies its efforts to reduce sugar consumption and to advise those seeking to lose weight in the Greater Fall River Fitness Challenge to adopt a low carbohydrate and high fat approach to eating that has been demonstrated to be the most effective for both weight loss and for cardiovascular health. It is also an approach that is now practiced by Registered Dietitian Amanda Raposo of the Southcoast Diabetes Management Program in working with overweight and diabetic patients. Click here for a one-hour video of the presentation. For more information, contact Partners Executive Director Dr. David Weed at 508-837-9029.

(Top row) Science Writer Gary Taubes, author of Why We Get Fat, speaks with UMass Medical School Diabetes Center of Excellence Co-Director David Harlan, MD before he is introduced. (Row two) Taubes goes over the history of nutrition science relative to the causes of obesity that he details in his book Good Calories, Bad Calories. (Row three) Taubes concludes his lecture by pointing to weight loss recommendations that were common more than a century ago to lose weight by reducing carbohydrates before taking questions from the audience. (Bottom row) Gary poses for photos with Partners Executive Director Dr. David Weed and retired Barnstable School health teacher, Rod Cartocci and signs one of his books.