Diets and heart health - no difference between low carb and low fat

Nov 8 2006

A new study has shown that when it comes to diet programs and heart health, there is little to choose between low carbohydrate diets such as the popular Atkins plan and typical low-fat diets.

The researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health say neither is more likely to either cause heart disease, or prevent it.

Atkin's and other low-carb diets have long claimed to prevent obesity and heart disease, but nutrition experts have always questioned the safety of encouraging people to eat animal proteins that are high in saturated fats and cholesterol.

Low-carb diets encourage people to eat more proteins and are popular for weight loss.

The researchers found in fact that the rate of heart disease among women who follow a low carbohydrate diet is no higher than it is among women who eat foods that are low in fat and high in carbohydrates.

For the study the team analyzed data collected over 20 years from more than 82,000 women participating in the Nurses' Health Study.

Researcher Thomas Halton says this does not mean that the two diets are equally good, in fact, they're both equally bad, but he says the study is an eye-opener and goes against a lot of what people think is common wisdom for nutrition.

The researchers say that the only diet that reduces the risk of the disease, and does so dramatically, is one where the fat and protein come from vegetable sources.

Women who showed a 30 percent reduction in the risk of heart disease over 20 years, tended to get their protein from beans, legumes, oatmeal, whole grain, tofu and brown rice, and their fat from nuts, olive oil and canola oil.

Halton says the reason that vegetable sources of protein and fat are so beneficial is that such foods produce a gradual increase in the blood sugar, not the rapid spikes generated by low-fat foods that are high in sugar.

The study is published in the current edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.