Gary Taubes argues that energy imbalance (calories in > out) does not cause obesity; rather, energy imbalance is a result of the fattening process. In this post, I evaluate this claim, which boils down to the question of which side of the energy balance equation is driving the other. A version of this debate has been happening within the obesity research community, including my corner of it, for decades. The truth is that while fat mass can clearly be changed by altering energy balance, an...
