The Atkins diet was immensely popular in the early 2000s and is often considered one of the progenitors of the Paleo diet and other recent low-carb diet programs. Anecdotally, many have sworn by low-carb diets, but is there any concrete science to support the idea that consuming fewer carbs leads to weight loss and improved health? The general idea is that carbohydrate intake increases insulin levels, which promotes fat storage. There is some truth to the insulin hypothesis, but the science paints a much more complicated picture. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The prevailing belief behind low-carb diets is that consuming carbohydrates leads to the release of insulin, which is a hormone secreted by the pancreas. All carbohydrates, whether it is the fructose found in fruit or the complex starchy carbohydrates found in beans or grains, are broken down into glucose molecules in the body by the intestine and liver. Insulin binds to cell receptors and helps transport glucose into cells. Excess carbohydrates, broken down into glucose within the body, are stored as fat, so eating too many carbohydrates leads to weight gain. Using this basic assumption about insulin, low-carb diets limit the amount of carbohydrates consumed and encourage greater consumption of fats and proteins. Basically, insulin is the real villain here operating in the shadows and fueled by carbohydrates. To suppress insulin production, you limit the consumption of carbohydrates and, as a result, excess carbohydrates cannot be stored as fat and therefore weight decreases. The problem with the insulin hypothesis is that fats and proteins also stimulate an insulin response. Essentially, the role of insulin in the body is to regulate various nutrients, mainly glucose, fatty acids and amino acids in the bloodstream. Dietary fats and proteins are broken down in the body into fatty acids and amino acids. While the fat you have already stored is burned as a last resort by your body, insulin will direct circulating proteins, fats and carbohydrates to be burned for energy in equal quantities. If you were to consume 100 calories of protein, fat, or carbohydrate, insulin would suppress fat burning and use any of the circulating fuels. Since they are all in equal amounts, in theory, consuming 100 calories of protein versus 100 calories of carbohydrates should make no difference in terms of fat storage. According to the first law of thermodynamics, the low-carbohydrate/insulin hypothesis must demonstrate that insulin is somehow leading to a decrease in energy intake with less carbohydrate consumption. Studies have shown that high-protein meals can stimulate as much or more insulin production than high-carbohydrate meals. Other studies have observed that the greater the degree of insulin release, the greater the level of satiety. This contradicts the idea that high carbohydrate intake causes increased food consumption due to dramatic insulin spikes. Furthermore, although meals rich in carbohydrates cause a greater insulin response than meals rich in fat, it has been observed that the feeling of satiety is more or less the same. In animal studies, subjects injected with insulin showed no increases in food intake or weight gains. On the contrary.