WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM THE IMO FIBER SCANDAL?

Over the past few weeks, the scandal around Isomaltooligosaccharides (IMO’s) has been a major topic in the nutrition community. For those unfamiliar, IMO’s were initially classified as fiber and were therefore used in many food products to boost fiber content and market towards the “dieting” population.  

As a little refresher, fiber is the indigestible part of starch. The fact that it is indigestible is actually what makes it beneficial to the body and particularly helpful for weight loss. Because we don’t absorb fiber, we can subtract it from the total carbs in a food, allowing us to take in fewer net carbs and calories. This is why high-fiber products are popular among people trying to lose weight.

Unfortunately a few weeks ago, the FDA came out with news that IMO’s do not fit the criteria to be considered fiber. This was a major disappointment to people who have been consuming IMO products as part of their weight loss and maintenance regimens. For example, one bar containing IMO’s claimed to have 19 grams of fiber. If all of those grams are coming from IMO’s, instead of having just 7 grams of net carbs, the bar actually has 26 grams of net carbs; and instead of just 190 calories, it actually has 266. This is a significant difference, especially for those consuming these bars regularly.

Needless to say, the IMO scandal raises a lot of questions about how we should be getting our nutrients and what should be guiding our food choices.

First and foremost, when diets focus solely on numbers, they aren’t as focused on what you are eating to achieve those numbers. On these diets, as long as a food has a Nutrition Facts Label that fits, you should be able to eat it. This leads to too much reliance on heavily processed foods, which puts you at risk for disappointment when processed ingredients don’t live up to expectations. Case in point: IMO’s.

At The 4Q Method, we believe that getting down to your goal weight is possible without focusing on numbers. In fact, we believe that focusing too much on numbers is not a sustainable way to lose weight. Instead, we teach clients to use a checklist to ensure that proportions of food groups are met at each meal and snack. When our clients look down at their plates, they are confident that they are going to lose weight without thinking about calorie counts or nutrient numbers. Furthermore, because our clients are relying on real, whole foods, they don’t run the risk of being led astray by inaccurate food labels.

In addition to focusing less on numbers, the IMO scandal may also make you reconsider how strict you need to be about net-carb intake. Since IMO’s don’t count as fiber, people eating IMO products were actually absorbing more carbs than they thought. (Remember: net carbs = grams of total carbs - grams of fiber.) The silver lining is that if you were happy with your weight when you were eating IMO products, you can be happy with your weight while eating more net carbs. So in theory, higher net carb foods you once avoided, such as bananas and sweet potatoes, could be reintroduced into your diet without compromising your goals.

At The 4Q Method, we talk a lot about the merits of each food group when we discuss what and why you are eating (2 of our 4 Q’s!). While The 4Q Method promotes a high fiber diet, it also promotes the idea that no food should be off limits. For example, even though bananas have more net carbs than raspberries, bananas are still a perfectly fine food to eat. Not only that, but you can eat them and still lose weight. The same is true for whole grains, legumes, all fruits, and starchy vegetables. In fact, avoiding these foods when you truly want them can lead to over-eating foods you don’t want simply because you aren’t satisfied. That not only leads to weight gain, but also immense frustration.

At The 4Q Method we work to strategize and balance your intake so that you hit your weight loss goals without feeling deprived. And while it may be daunting to reintroduce food into the diet, this may be a nice opportunity to start eating those “off limit” foods once again.

In sum, if we can learn anything from the IMO scandal, it is that focusing too much on numbers for weight loss can backfire and absorbing carbs is not necessarily going to hinder your weight loss goals. These are definitely two outcomes that The 4Q Method can get behind!