Should I cut down on carbs?
Low-carb diets are popular. But do you really need to reduce how much carbohydrates you eat?
Have you ever asked yourself: should I do Keto? Is white rice good for me? Am I eating too many carbohydrates? If so, then this episode of The Food Chain is for you. Carbohydrate-rich foods are everywhere and they’re delicious. But are they good for us? Carbs have a reputation for spiking our blood sugar and making us fat. But is that reputation deserved?
Ruth Alexander talks to Javier Gonzalez, Professor of Nutrition and Metabolism at the University of Bath in England and US-based dietitian Julie Stefanski from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics to find out whether we’ve been approaching carbohydrates all wrong.
Plus: are there some populations who need to think more carefully about carbs than others? Dr Nelum Dharmapriya thinks so. She’s an Australian family doctor with a special interest in metabolic health in South Asian populations. She advises her patients to make some tweaks to the traditional South Asian carbohydrate-rich diet and says it can be done without losing heritage and identity.
If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk
Produced by Lexy O'Connor and Beatrice Pickup.
(Image: A woman stares over her sunglasses as she slurps pasta from a fork in a sunlit garden.Credit: Getty images/BBC)
Last on
Featured
.
Broadcasts
- Thu 30 Jul 202603:32GMTBBC World Service
- Thu 30 Jul 202612:32GMTBBC World Service except Australasia, East and Southern Africa, News Internet & West and Central Africa
- Thu 30 Jul 202617:32GMTBBC World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
- Thu 30 Jul 202621:32GMTBBC World Service except East and Southern Africa, Europe and the Middle East & West and Central Africa
- Thu 30 Jul 202622:32GMTBBC World Service Europe and the Middle East
- Last Sunday08:32GMTBBC World Service East and Southern Africa, Online, Americas and the Caribbean, UK DAB/Freeview & News Internet only
- Last Sunday17:32GMTBBC World Service News Internet
Podcast
![]()
The Food Chain
Examining what it takes to put food on your plate


