Low-Carb, No-Carb: The Fat's In The Fizz

Fairbanks, AK, March 22, 2012 -- A groundbreaking study into the root causes of obesity has shed new and remarkable light on why Americans are growing ever-heavier. At the heart of the discovery is a key factor that was overlooked for decades simply because, according to the research team, no one ever thought of looking there.

"It's bubbles. Counter-intuitive, I know, but there it is," says Arnold Lejeggier, who organized and drove the research initiative. "Bubbles, such as those found in carbonated beverages like soda, beer, champagne, sparkling water, and so forth, make you fat. Our results are quite conclusive."

The Long-term Associative Analysis of Reductive Disorder (LAARD) study, conducted by a multidisciplinary team of dietary researchers and organic chemists from several major universities, tracked the eating and drinking habits of nearly 6,000 subjects over a period of three years. While weight-gain and weight-loss results followed, on the whole, patterns consistent with current nutritional and dietary theory, one elusive "wild-card" factor puzzled researchers for the first half of the study.

"We thought it might be hormonal issues, but different subjects with virtually identical hormonal and lifestyle profiles showed dramatically different gain patterns. It wasn't until we started tracking all beverages, not just the usual suspects, on an ounce-by-ounce basis that we at last knew where to look," says Lejeggier. "We found that individuals who consumed large quantities of sparkling water or diet soda would gain at precisely the same rate as a full-time beer guzzler. It's not just the sugar or carbohydrate content, it's the quantity of carbonation."

According to Lejeggier, the bubbles in carbonated beverages act as a catalyst when ingested into the intestinal tract, causing usually dormant "storage enzymes" to activate. The storage enzymes function much like worker ants in an anthill, diligently gathering ingested substances and packing them away in the belly and thighs in the form of fat. In the absence of carbonation, the storage enzymes remain inert.

"We believe this discovery will have a significant impact on the drinking habits of, in particular, large-scale consumers of diet beverages," sayd Lejeggier. "It had always puzzled me that seriously overweight people consume such large amounts of diet soda, apparently in some sort of irrational belief that the diet soda in and of itself will help them lose weight. Now we've proven that the soda, by bubble-activating fat storage enzymes, is having precisely the opposite effect."

A large group of study subjects in the moderate-to-seriously overweight category were matched against a control sample, with the former "no-carb" group shedding all carbonated beverages, even sparkling water, from their diet. All other dietary and activity factors remained the same. Incredibly, the no-carb group lost weight at a rate more than triple that of the control group. The LAARD team then reversed the process, and found that the control group lost weight while the initial no-carb group, when put back on the gas, started gaining immediately.

"We'll be launching a wide-scale NOCO2 public awareness campaign in the coming months, with the assistance of state and federal agencies, to promote low-carb awareness," says Lejeggier. "This really is the silver bullet we've all been looking for. Meanwhile, if you can't shake it, don't take it."

By Ion Zwitter, Avant News Editor