Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Interesting Research Articles

As I continue on my journey, I am discovering more and more scientific literature with conclusions that are startling.  Why did I not know this information before?  Nutritional public policy is way behind the times.  I spent a bit of time on the Metabolism Society web site and discovered many scientific studies on the impact of the LCD on cardiovascular disease, type II diabetes, obesity, cancer, etc.  Below are a few gems I found from this site.

Saturated Fat and Cardiovascular Disease.  A meta-analysis of 348,000 subjects over 5 to 23 years leads to this conclusion:  "[T]here is no significant evidence for concluding that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of CHD [coronary heart disease] or CVD [cardiovascular disease]."

Are Refined Carbohydrates Worse than Saturated Fat?  This article still believes saturated fats are bad, but it also concludes that replacing fat in the diet with refined carbohydrates is bad, too, and suggests adding more sources of vegetable fat and consuming non-refined carbs and lean protein.  It reports on a large scale study on the affects of saturated fat on myocardial infarction (MI; heart attacks) and concludes that "saturated fat intake was not associated with risk of MI compared with carbohydrate consumption" but that replacing saturated fat with refined carbs "significantly increased the risk of MI."

Low Carb Diets and Cardiovascular Disease.  Conclusion:  "A diet based on restricting carbohydrates leads to spontaneous caloric reduction and subsequent improvement in emerging markers of CVD [cardiovascular disease] in overweight/obese men who are otherwise healthy."

The Effect of a Low Carb Diet on People with Severe Type II Diabetes.  Conclusion:  "The 30% carbohydrate diet over 6 months led to a remarkable reduction in HbA1c levels, even among outpatients with severe type 2 diabetes, without any insulin therapy, hospital care, or increase in sulfonylureas.  The effectiveness of the diet may be comparable to that of insulin therapy."

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