Ha Ha Ha! Low-Carb, High-Protein Diets Damage Arteries.
Oh, those silly low-carb diets. Will they ever learn! Here’s more bad news for low-carb. A new study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found low-carb, high-protein diets damage arties:
Diets based on eating lots of meat, fish and cheese, while restricting carbohydrates have grown in popularity in recent years.
But the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in the US found such habits caused artery damage in tests on mice.
The researchers and independent experts both agreed a balanced diet was the best option…
…Lead researcher Anthony Rosenzweig said the findings were so concerning to him that he decided to come off the low-carb diet he was following.
He added: "Our research suggests that, at least in animals, these diets could be having adverse cardiovascular effects.
"It appears that a moderate and balanced diet, coupled with regular exercise, is probably best for most people."
And in 2007, a study found low-carb diets, like Atkins, cause long-term damage to blood vessels. Dr. Fuhrman is no fan of high-protein diets, all that saturated fat and insufficient plant nutrients increases risk of heart disease and cancer:
The Atkins diet (and other diets rich in animal products and low in fruits and unrefined carbohydrates) is likely to significantly increase a person's risk of colon cancer. Scientific studies show a clear and strong relationship between cancers of the digestive tract, bladder, and prostate with low fruit consumption. What good is a diet that lowers your weight but also dramatically increases your chances of developing cancer?
A meat-based, low-fiber diet, like the one Atkins advocates, includes little or no fruit, no starchy vegetables, and no whole grains. Following Atkin's recommendations could more than double your risk of certain cancers, especially meat-sensitive cancers, such as epithelial cancers of the respiratory tract.1 For example, a study conducted by the National Cancer Institute looked at lung cancer in nonsmoking women so that smoking would not be a major variable. Researchers found that the relative risk of lung cancer was six times greater in women in the highest fifth of saturated-fat consumption than those in the lowest fifth.
I asked Dr. Fuhrman to comment on this study. He chuckled at the news, saying, “This study definitely proves once and for all that mice should not be eating the Atkins diet. They should get Jenny Craig. Furthermore, vegetables make pigs fat, so maybe we shouldn't eat them either.”
Image credit: jaxxon
Carbs = energy.
No/low carbs = starvation.
Come on Atkins advocates - it's not rocket science!
I know there's a segment of folks out there who do a LOW fat version of Atkins--still eating low-carb vegetables, but no fruits until the desired weight is reached. A friend is using a lot of whey protein prepared meals and eating steamed veggies and salads with two meals. She says she feels great, and she has lost weight. I would be curious to know more about this approach, ie the more moderated version of Atkins being promoted--eating white meat chicken, for example, instead of high saturated fat meats, cheese, dairy. I am sold on ETL, but several people whom I have encountered go the low carb/more veggies/fat-free protein route and seem to love it. A question would be: how to frame the potential harm of even low-fat, "cleaner" proteins? Ex: bone loss? kidney strain? etc...
Hi Gerry
Melissa, there are now so many versions and phases of the Atkins diet, the term is now probably meaningless.
The actual diet at atkins.com is not unreasonable, including nuts and seeds and leafy greens and fruits. It would seems to be the many products out there advertised at other sites that are still stuck in the past (severe carb restriction).
Melissa, I recommend that your friend check the proper web site, that way she has the best chance of a healthy Atkins experience. Of course though I would simply recommend she surf at this site or Fuhrman's main site and go nutritarian!
Cheers, Steve
Atkins = bad. Ok.
"It appears that a moderate and balanced diet, coupled with regular exercise, is probably best for most people." - Fail.
It's fine that researchers prove the negative/damaging effects of diets that we are not designed for but please stop there. "Moderation" is pretty meaningless and makes me cringe everything I see/hear it. Primates are simply designed for high intake of raw fruit and vegetation. Last time I checked, "most people" are primates. If you aren't getting >90% of your caloric intake from fresh, raw, high nutrient plant food, you are not optimizing your health potential. Period. Nothing moderate about that.
1. These are vegetarian eating mice.
2. This diet was not high-fat(saturated), moderate-protein, and low-carb. It was a diet that is completely inadvisable--high protein, low carb, and hardly any fat, such a diet could mess up your entire body. You need the fat.
@Tim:
Sure, Tim, carbs = energy. Of course, fat = 2x(carb energy). Fat is also critical in many other ares of the body, such as cell structure and hormone formation, while carbs also provide...?