Group items tagged

This week sees the publication of yet another study showing the superiority of the low-carbohydrate diet as compared to the low-fat diet. This study, published in the prestigious American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, demonstrates that subjects following the low-carb diet experience a decrease in triglyceride levels and an increase in HDL-cholesterol (HDL) levels; and that these changes are accompanied by a minor increase in LDL-cholesterol (LDL), which prompts the authors to issue a caveat. Yes, although just about all the parameters that lipophobes worry about improved with the low-carb diet, the small increase in LDL has caused great concern and has prompted the authors to gravely announce that this small increase is troublesome and should be monitored closely in anyone who may be at risk for heart disease. Since most people who go on low-carb diets do so to deal with obesity issues, and since obesity is a risk factor for heart disease, it would appear that this small increase in LDL often seen in those following a low-carb diet could put these dieters at risk. Does it? We'll see.

I imagine most readers of this blog would expect a group of subjects to do better on a Paleolithic diet as compared to a standard American diet, but there are few studies actually making the comparison. One was posted yesterday in the Advance-0nline-Publication section of the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition that shows subjects following a Paleolithic diet made major metabolic changes, and made them rapidly

Conclusion A low-carbohydrate plant-based diet has lipid-lowering advantages over a high-carbohydrate, low-fat weight-loss diet in improving heart disease risk factors not seen with conventional low-fat diets with animal products. The Effect of a Plant-Based Low-Carbohydrate ("Eco-Atkins") Diet on Body Weight and Blood Lipid Concentrations in Hyperlipidemic Subjects David J. A. Jenkins; Julia M. W. Wong; Cyril W. C. Kendall; Amin Esfahani; Vivian W. Y. Ng; Tracy C. K. Leong; Dorothea A. Faulkner; Ed Vidgen; Kathryn A. Greaves; Gregory Paul; William Singer Arch Intern Med. 2009;169(11):1046-1054.

The Mediterranean diet is not really a weight loss diet. It is a lifestyle that one adopts for a lifetime.

Can including wheat in your diet create hell on earth? Was The Inferno nothing more than Danté's prediction for the state of the U.S. diet circa 2009? I'm kidding on The Inferno allusion, but the American diet nonetheless sure does create an inferno of unhealthy phenomena.

de Lorgeril M, Salen P, Martin J-L, Monjaud I, Delaye J, Mamelle N:\nMediterranean diet, traditional risk factors and the rate of\ncardiovascular complications after myocardial infarction. Final report of the Lyon Diet Heart Study.\nCirculation 1999, Febr

One of the first things a seasoned dieter might notice about the Zone Diet is that it's not a diet that tries to be restrictive.

Scientists in Canada reviewing the research so far on links between different diets and heart disease found strong evidence that diets high in vegetables and nuts, and those that follow a Mediterranean pattern rich in fruit, vegetables and fish were strongly associated with lower heart disease risk than those that rely on food with a high glycemic index or high in trans-fatty acids. High glycemic index food includes rice, pasta and refined carbohydrates like white bread, and foods high in trans-fatty acids include fried foods, baked goods and snacks.

An isoenergetic very low carbohydrate diet improves serum HDL cholesterol and triacylglycerol concentrations, the total cholesterol to HDL cholesterol ratio and postprandial pipemic responses compared with a low fat diet in normal weight, normolipidemic women. Volek JS, Sharman MJ, Gómez AL, Scheett TP, Kraemer WJ. J Nutr. 2003 Sep;133(9):2756-61. PMID: 12949361

Long-term effects of a very-low-carbohydrate weight loss diet compared with an isocaloric low-fat diet after 12 mo. Brinkworth GD, Noakes M, Buckley JD, Keogh JB, Clifton PM. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 May 13. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 19439458 doi:10.3945/ajcn.2008.27326

ScienceDaily (June 9, 2009) - Overweight individuals who ate a low-calorie, low-carbohydrate diet high in plant-based proteins for four weeks lost weight and experienced improvements in blood cholesterol levels and other heart disease risk factors, according to a report in the June 8 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. A high-carbohydrate, low-fat vegetarian diet also resulted in weight loss but without the additional cardiovascular benefits.

Dietary cholesterol from eggs increases plasma HDL cholesterol in overweight men consuming a carbohydrate-restricted diet. Mutungi G, Ratliff J, Puglisi M, Torres-Gonzalez M, Vaishnav U, Leite JO, Quann E, Volek JS, Fernandez ML. J Nutr. 2008 Feb;138(2):272-6. PMID: 18203890 Carbohydrate-restricted diets (CRD) significantly decrease body weight and independently improve plasma triglycerides (TG) and HDL cholesterol (HDL-C) . [..] Eighteen subjects were classified as having the metabolic syndrome (MetS) at the beginning of the study, whereas 3 subjects had that classification at the end. These results suggest that including eggs in a CRD results in increased HDL-C while decreasing the risk factors associated with MetS.

The best and most effective weight loss diets and foods to help you get into shape and stay healthy.

European experts in cancer and nutrition are meeting in Zurich, Switzerland late this month to discuss cutting-edge research in one of the most important and fiercely debated topics in cancer prevention: the link between diet and cancer. There is growing evidence that many cancers may be prevented through healthy lifestyle, including a nutritionally balanced diet. In addition, nutritional problems can also have a negative impact on cancer management and the lives of patients. Other presentations will include new data on topics such as: Childhood nutrition and later breast cancer risk The anti-tumour effects of green tea Malnutrition and patient distress in cancer Possible anti-tumour effects of soy extracts in mice Estrogens in beef and cancer risk

Metabolic and physiologic improvements from consuming a paleolithic, hunter-gatherer type diet.\nFrassetto LA, Schloetter M, Mietus-Synder M, Morris RC Jr, Sebastian A.\nEur J Clin Nutr. 2009 Feb 11. [Epub ahead of print]\nPMID: 19209185 \ndoi: 10.1038/ejcn.2009.4\n

Mediterranean alpha-linolenic acid-rich diet in secondary prevention of coronary heart disease.\nde Lorgeril M, Renaud S, Mamelle N, Salen P, Martin JL, Monjaud I, Guidollet J, Touboul P, Delaye J.\nLancet. 1994 Jun 11;343(8911):1454-9. Erratum in: Lancet 1995 Mar 18;345(8951):738.\nPMID: 7911176

Leaf A.\nDietary prevention of coronary heart disease: the Lyon Diet Heart Study.\nCirculation. 1999 Feb 16;99(6):733-5.

Floyd Chilton and colleagues wanted to examine whether theses fatty acids might have other effects, and developed a dietary intervention strategy in which 27 healthy humans were fed a controlled diet mimicking the w6/w3 ratios of early humans over 5 weeks. They then looked at the gene levels of immune signals and cytokines (protein immune messengers), that impact autoimmunity and allergy in blood cells and found that many key signaling genes that promote inflammation were markedly reduced compared to a normal diet, including a signaling gene for a protein called PI3K, a critical early step in autoimmune and allergic inflammation responses. This study demonstrates, for the first time in humans, that large changes in gene expression are likely an important mechanism by which these omega fatty acids exert their potent clinical effects

There is new research out this morning from South Dakota State University which offers evidence that including flax in the diet may help prevent colorectal tumors or keep tumors from growing as quickly when they do form. Professor C. Dwivedi, head of SDSU's Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, directed the study. The study was conducted in mice that develop spontaneous intestinal tumors. This strain of mouse is often used as a model by cancer researchers due to this mutation.

ScienceDaily (Feb. 26, 2009) - A study from the Harokopio University of Athens (Greece) suggests that adherence to a dietary pattern close to the Mediterranean diet, with high consumption of fish and olive oil and low red meat intake, has a significant impact in women skeletal health.