Low carb diets Protect your heart also....

Today's post: Monday, 8-4-2008

Many of you have seen the studies that show that low carb diets DO help people lose weight. In many of them the people lost MORE weight and fat on low carb diets than on other approaches.

And, some of you have read the post we did that quoted research that helps explain why. When you eat protein foods, your appetite is turned off and you stop being hungry until it’s time to eat next. But when you eat carbs, particularly high fructose corn syrup or sugars, you do initially feel less hungry; but a bit later this reverses and you get hungry again before it would normally be time to eat.

But, because some high protein, low carb diets have been high in saturated animal fat, many health experts have believed that low carb diets were not likely to be good for your heart.

And, in fact, there ARE some health and heart problems associated with eating a lot of fatty meats from grain fed animals that are penned up and stuffed. This practice ensures you get too much saturated fat and omega 6 oils -- which tends to result in high LDL cholesterol and CRP inflammation. THAT kind of high protein intake from such fatty meats is very probably bad for your heart. So those experts had a point.

But, what if you had people eat a high protein, low carb diet where the protein was from lean, naturally fed animals &/or from plant proteins such as eating nuts and beans?

It seems that this research HAS been done. The people who ate that way DID lose more weight than people who ate calorie limited Mediterranean or low-fat diets. Even better, the people on the high protein, low carb diet ate what they were hungry for instead of limiting their portions. They did eat fewer calories than the other two groups; but they didn’t have to work at it nearly as much. (Since they did want to lose weight they likely did avoid stuffing themselves, however.)

But, here’s the real surprise that should have been front page news.:

The people who ate the high protein, low carb diet where the protein was from lean, naturally fed animals &/or from plant proteins such as eating nuts and beans had even better changes towards heart health than both the people eating the calorie limited low-fat diet AND the calorie limited Mediterranean diet.

Somehow that rather important news was missed and not publicized.

I found this out from an article in the Total Health Breakthroughs email I get in their email last Friday, 8-1.

Here’s that article, after which I’ll post some comments.:

"This article appears courtesy of Early to Rise's Total Health Breakthroughs, offering alternative solutions for mind, body and soul. For a complimentary subscription,

visit http://www.totalhealthbreakthroughs.com"


“Friday, August 1, 2008

The Real Story on that "Diet War" Study

By Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS

You certainly would have had to look far and wide to find a "no-spin" reporting zone a couple of weeks ago when the New England Journal of Medicine1 published a headline-grabbing study comparing weight loss on one of three diets: (1) Mediterranean, (2) Low-Carb, or (3) Low-Fat.

I doubt if many headline writers or reporters bothered to read the entire 13-page study -- they were too busy writing dramatic headlines. But God is in the details, and in this case, the details were pretty important. So let's take a look at this fairly important study and talk about what it actually showed (and, also important, what it didn't show).

Israeli researchers recruited 322 moderately obese subjects and randomly assigned them to one of three dietary groups.

Group one followed a low-carb diet without any restriction on calories. For the first two months they limited their carbohydrate intake to 20 grams a day (the exact amount on the Induction Phase of Atkins). They were then encouraged to increase their intake of carbs up to a maximum of 120 grams a day of carbs. (Sharp-eyed readers might note that 120 grams of carbs hardly constitutes an Atkins diet, even during the most generous "maintenance" phase.

For someone eating 1500-1800 calories a day diet, that would be between 25-40% of calories from carbs, closer to "The Zone" than to Atkins. But I digress.)

In contrast, both the Mediterranean and the low-fat groups were calorie limited: 1500 calories a day for women and 1800 for men. The low-fat group followed the standard American Heart Association guidelines (30% of calories from fat). The Mediterranean group were allowed up to 35% fat, mostly from olive oil and nuts, and were counseled to substitute beef and lamb with poultry and fish.

Interestingly, all three groups lowered their calories significantly from where they started, even though the low-carb group wasn't told to do so, meaning the low-carb group "naturally" ate fewer calories without even trying. (This is an important point, since I've long maintained that a low-carb diet is easier to follow for many people -- especially those with sugar addictions -- because it doesn't stimulate the appetite like high-carb diets frequently do.)

Fast forward two years: the low-carb group lost the most amount of weight, the low-fat diet brought up the rear and the Mediterranean group was in the middle. It's important to remember that the actual amount of weight loss we're talking about was pretty pathetic -- an average of about 12 pounds for the low-carb group, 10 for the Mediterranean group, and 7 for the low-fat group -- but I'll get to that in a minute.

The weight loss results, however, were only part of the picture. The low-carb group had the highest increase in HDL ("good, protective cholesterol"), the most improvement in cholesterol ratio, and the greatest reduction in triglycerides -- an important risk factor for heart disease that many say is more important than cholesterol. (Triglycerides didn't budge in the low fat group.)

It gets better. As readers of THB know, inflammation is a silent killer and a component of every known degenerative disease -- from heart disease to obesity. One of the best markers for inflammation is a blood component called C-Reactive Protein (CRP). Low-carb dieters saw their CRP go down the most -- it barely budged in the low-fat group.

So what's the take home?

Well, first of all, diets are tough. The amount of weight lost by all three groups was pretty dismal, but those numbers were averages -- some people lost a lot more (the highest number of pounds lost was lost on the low-carb approach, by the way).

Second, although this study was pretty rigorous about checking "compliance," we all know that it's just about impossible to truly monitor "compliance" in a free-living situation -- so exactly how well the subjects followed the test diets is open to question.

Third, though the "low-carb" group did the best, I can't help wonder how much better they would have done if they had actually kept carbohydrate levels down to a more reasonable level of under 100 grams a day (or even less) -- a level that seems to work the best for people who have problems with sugar, insulin, and carbohydrates in general. (I'm guessing they would have lost a lot more weight.)

Fourth -- and maybe most important -- the study shows that there are health benefits to a low-carb approach that go beyond weight loss. Lowered CRP, lowered triglycerides, and increased HDL are nothing to sneeze at -- and a nice slap in the face to the establishment that keeps telling us how "unhealthy" low-carb diets are!

I think many of the "distinctions" between the three diets -- especially between the low-carb and Mediterranean approach -- were somewhat artificial. You could easily follow low-carb and eat more olive oil and nuts, and you could easily follow Mediterranean and eat low carb.

Both programs emphasize a ton of vegetables (yes, even low-carb diets do!), healthy protein, and good fat. In this study, even the low-fat approach sounded dangerously close to the Mediterranean diet (30% of fat vs. 35%).

The best we can say about this important study is that it got a lot of attention (after all this was the New England Journal of Medicine) and gave credibility to the researchers stated conclusion that there are other ways to go besides low-fat. It also gave credibility to the unstated conclusion that no one program works for everyone -- and that some people may be more metabolically suited to low-carb (just as some may thrive on vegetarian or raw food diets).

And as far as the dismal weight loss results, let's just remember that weight loss remains a tough nut to crack. But with the right match between program and person, the right social support system, a level of determination and commitment, it can be done.

And it frequently is -- often with much more dramatic results than were seen in this study.

Reference

Shai, I et al. New England Journal of Medicine, 359(3), 229-241, 2008.
[Ed. note: Dr. Bowden is a nationally known expert on weight loss, nutrition and health. He's a board certified nutrition specialist with a Master's degree in psychology and the author of five books including The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth. His latest book is The Most Effective Cures on Earth. ….]

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1. These results are extremely significant because they show quite clearly that a higher protein, high vegetable, low carb diet results in lower CRP readings. And, high CRP readings are more predictive of heart problems than many other measures such as total and LDL cholesterol.

(It seems that lowering high CRP readings is the main engine that allows statin drugs to help prevent heart disease—much more so than their LDL lowering. And, dramatically lower doses of statins or getting more omega 3 oils AND, according to this study, adopting a low carb diet do also.)

2. And, these results are extremely significant because they show quite clearly that a higher protein, high vegetable, low carb diet results in a combination of higher HDL cholesterol and LOWER triglycerides.

Researchers have found that this ratio is reliably indicative of the amount of the truly dangerous and undesirable small particle LDL you have in your blood which is one of the major drivers of heart and cardiovascular disease. So, when you boost HDL and lower triglycerides at the same time, you don’t just lower LDL cholesterol, you lower the kind that will actually harm you. Even better, the effect is strong because you BOTH increase the good part of the ratio and lower the bad part of it at the same time.

3. I also like that the author points out that a low carb, high protein, Mediterranean diet would also work to lose weight and fat. Extra virgin olive oil lowers LDL cholesterol but leaves your HDLs high; has very little omega 6 oils and has other health benefits. The cooked tomatoes and garlic in it also tend to prevent heart disease. And, garlic and extra virgin olive oil tend to lower high blood pressure.