Carbohydrates get a bit of a bad rap.

The heyday of high-protein, low-carb diets might be over – though some claim that the Atkins, to take only the most famous example, is making a comeback – but the sugars, starches and cellulose that fall under the carbohydrate umbrella are still eyed with a certain degree of suspicion by many.

Feeling guilty about your penchant for bread already? Japanese researchers are here to help.

According to a new study by researchers at Tokyo’s National Center for Global Health and Medicine, carbohydrates have less to do with one’s overall health than fat intake and – that old chestnut – exercise.

For the study, 80,000 participants answered questionnaires about their lifestyles and diet that determined how well they follow Japan’s nutritional guidelines, which were introduced in 2005 and are illustrated by a spinning top.

This top is broken into “dish-based” segments – rather than ones based on raw ingredients, as on Nutrition Australia’s 2015 Healthy Eating Pyramid – with rice, bread and noodle dishes where carb-lovers might wish but not necessarily expect to find them: at the very top, in the spinning top’s largest segment, with between five and seven servings recommended daily. (Actually, the very top of the top is a glass of water around which, tellingly, a stick figure can be seen running. The average Japanese walks more than 7000 steps a day.)

Below this much-appreciated justification for carb-loading, the spinning top narrows to recommend between five and six servings of vegetable dishes per day, three to five protein dishes – anything consisting of meat, fish, egg or soy beans – before terminating at the tip of the top, which is split between two servings per day each of fruit and dairy products.

American cardiovascular research scientist James DiNicolantonio told The Huffington Post that the high Japanese intake of omega-3 fatty acids, paired with the low intake of fat and processed foods, doubtless contributed to their ability to eat so many grains without effect.

“If we restrict our intake of refined sugar, industrial seed oils, and increase [our] intake of marine omega-3s, then we might be able to tolerate eating more rice,” DiNicolantonio, who is staunchly anti-carb himself, admitted.

Of course, even the Japanese are still working it out. The country’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has made one major update to its nutritional guidelines since launching the spinning top ten years ago, recommending that people cut down their intake of white rice – which has been linked to an increased risk of chronic diseases – and hit up whole grains instead.

The point is that carbohydrates – whatever the good Dr Atkins might say – aren’t necessarily the villains here. At least, they’re no more villainous than any other food group. The trick to losing weight and staying healthy is ultimately as simple as it is boring. Indeed, it’s not really a trick at all. As DiNicolantonio puts it: “It really comes down to ‘eat real food’ and ‘exercise.’”