A Critical Review on the Role of Food and Nutrition in the Energy Balance.

Simona Bo,Ezio Ghigo,Marianna Pellegrini,Nicoletta Pellegrini,Maurizio Fadda,Debora Fedele

doi:10.3390/nu12041161

Abstract

The mass media has increasingly frequently suggested to the general population that specific foods or nutritional schemes are able to affect both human metabolism and energy expenditure, thus facilitating weight loss. This critical review is aimed at assessing available evidence on the roles of nutrients, food and dietary regimens in energy intake and energy expenditure. We queried the National Library of Medicine, the Cochrane Library, Excerpta Medica dataBASEand the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature database, and a search strategy was performed by using database-specific subject headings and keywords. We found that available scientific evidence on these topics is scarce, and that the limited number of available studies often have poor methodological quality. Only a few foods show beneficial effects on metabolism and energy expenditure, as the human energy balance is complex and multifactorial. Finally, microbiota may interfere with the intake, use and expenditure of energy in the human body. Conclusive evidence is still lacking, and, at present, it is not possible to identify a food or a diet with a significant impact on human energy expenditure.

Highlights

A large amount of misleading news has circulated on social media, blogs, TV and magazines about human nutrition
The aim of the present paper is to critically review the available evidence about the roles of nutrients, food, and dietary regimens on energy intake and energy expenditure, taking into consideration all the conditions potentially impacting on the final energy balance, including the gut microbiota
Few papers were available about many topics; all the research articles were considered with the following scale of priority: systematic reviews and meta-analyses, randomized controlled trials (RCTs), human observational studies, case series, animal studies and in vitro studies

Summary

Introduction

A large amount of misleading news has circulated on social media, blogs, TV and magazines about human nutrition. The Internet, TV and magazines frequently propose direct-to-consumer “information” about food, dietary schemes or supplements which increase the energy expenditure and/or burn fats or, otherwise, reduce the energy expenditure and lead to fat accumulation. Most of these advertisements contain mis- or dis-information. Some examples include: “drink a lot and consume fat-burning foods” (e.g., pineapple, ginger, onion, avocado, asparagus, celery, chili, broccoli, green tea, garlic, etc.) and “avoid the foods that make you fat” (e.g., pasta, bread and foods containing gluten, oil, dairy products, etc.), in order to lose weight [4] All these suggestions are generally incorrect: there are no foods with negative calories and focusing on one or a few foods or nutrients does not work, as a multifaceted and individualized program with careful follow-up over

Objectives

Methods

Findings

Conclusion