Low-glycaemic diet seen to reverse diastolic dysfunction of diabetes.

From http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/802947?nlid=30763_1301&src=wnl_edit_dail (Medscape log-in required):-

"Of 32 overweight or obese diabetic patients (mean body-mass index, 34) without cardiac disease who were engaged in a "rehabilitation program in order to lose weight" that included two hours of supervised aerobic exercise per day, half followed a low-glycemic diet (25% carbohydrate, 45% fat, 30% protein) and the other half a low-fat diet (55% carbohydrate, 25% fat, and 20% protein) for three weeks. The diets provided the same amount of calories. Those on the low-fat diet then switched to the low-glycemic diet for an additional two weeks"

"....the two diets led to about the same declines in weight and waist circumference..."

The diet was 25% carbohydrate, 45% fat, 30% protein.
It was a low-carbohydrate/low-glycaemic load diet.
It was not a very-low-carb diet.

Reasons to get off low-fat diets...

Part 1. Increased risk of Coronary Heart Disease due to a lack of gamma-tocopherol in the diet. See Antioxidant state and mortality from coronary heart disease in Lithuanian and Swedish men: concomitant cross sectional study of men aged 50.

See 300 foods highest in Gamma Tocopherol per 100g serving. Low-fat dieters are discouraged from eating foods high in fat. There is no gamma-tocopherol in most Vitamin E supplements. There is gamma-tocopherol in nuts & seeds. Only use Vitamin E supplements that contain mixed tocopherols.

Ditto for beta-carotene, found in coloured veggies and poorly absorbed without dietary fat.
Ditto for lycopene, found in tomatoes and poorly absorbed without dietary fat.


Part 2. Increased risk of tooth decay due to a lack of Vitamin K2. If you listen to Denise Minger's talk, starting at 8 minutes in, she discusses her poor oral health at a young age brought on by a lack of Vitamin K2. Richard Nikoley also discusses the effect of Vitamin K2 on his oral health.

See Vitamin K.


Part 3. Increased risk of gallbladder disease when losing weight. This applies to people (particularly Fair Fat Females in their Forties) who are losing weight rapidly, as this concentrates cholesterol in their bile. I find it rather odd that some people are obsessed with doing exercise, but they fail to exercise their gallbladders by eating at least 5 grams of fat in a meal.

See The Protein-Sparing Modified Fast (PSMF).

We are not all the same.

Cont'd from Everyone is Different.

Lyle (McDonald) brought the following study to my attention to illustrate that "We are not all the same":- Some Metabolic Changes Induced by Low Carbohydrate Diets. On a very-low-carb diet, one subject’s total cholesterol rose to 12.9mmol/L (500mg/dL in US units). The others didn't.
See also LDL cholesterol goes sky high on fatty diet.

I posted the study in various blogs to make the above point. Here are some of the replies I got:-
"Lyle? Lyle McDonald? Is that where you got that study, Nigel?" and... "I’m usually a pretty polite guy, Nigel. But based on this quote from the beginning of the study you mentioned, the people who wrote this study were a bunch of f**kwads, and really don’t deserve our attention. It’s a hatchet job."
"That was a weird study (1967) what I could make of it." and... "The men did all the stages but the women only did 3 stages of the diet."
"The fats were mostly omega-6 PUFA 13-35 grams worth..."
"The report you cite is so old and out of date that it makes me cry..."

My point was well & truly missed. I got the distinct impression that people thought I was criticising very-low-carb, high-fat diets. I wasn't. The simple fact is that there is no "One True Diet" that suits absolutely everybody. In the olden days everywhere & in poor countries nowadays, people that ate/eat the wrong diet for their body died/die young. Nowadays in rich countries, they get put on drugs e.g. oral hypoglycaemics (to lower blood glucose) & hypolipidaemics (to lower blood cholesterol/triglycerides).

Please note that omega-6 PUFAs tend to lower serum cholesterol rather than raise it, as per Fig. 2 of Types of Dietary Fat and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease: A Critical Review. However, don't rush off and eat shed-loads of omega-6 PUFA (e.g. corn oil) in the mistaken belief that it will make you live any longer. See (1971) Incidence of cancer in men on a diet high in polyunsaturated fat - Pearce.

Finally, for a little light relief, here is the latest result for Google Fight between "Healthy "low-fat diet"" and "Healthy "low-carb diet"". Oh, YES!

Cont'd on Everyone is Different, Part 2.

Some more nails for the coffin of the "healthy low-fat" diet.

Every time someone writes "I'm eating a healthy low-fat diet", I cringe. It's presumptuous to assume that, because the fat content is low, the diet is automatically healthy. The media tell us it's healthy. The government tells us it's healthy. "Experts" tell us it's healthy. It must be healthy, right? Um...

See After-eating effects: Carbohydrates vs. fats and Reduced oxidation of dietary fat after a short term high-carbohydrate diet.

The low-fat diet was white bread, potatoes, tuna, chicken, carrots, canned fruit, fruit juices, cola, jam, marmalade, sweets, and sugar cubes.

The higher-fat diet was less of the above, plus a fat spread, which consisted of a mixture of lard, palm oil, olive oil, and corn oil (the ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fat was 0.5:1).

Please excuse the following "shouting", but some facts need to be shouted from the rooftops:-

1) LDL CHOLESTEROL (LDL-C) DOES NOT CLOG YOUR ARTERIES. LDL-C IS NOT BAD CHOLESTEROL.

2) OXIDISED LDL-C (OX-LDL-C) DOES CLOG YOUR ARTERIES. OX-LDL-C IS BAD CHOLESTEROL.

3) LARGE, FLUFFY (PHENOTYPE A) LDL-C OXIDISES SLOWLY.

4) SMALL, DENSE (PHENOTYPE B) LDL-C OXIDISES RAPIDLY.

5) AS THE PERCENTAGE OF CALORIES FROM FAT DECREASES, YOU GET LESS PHENOTYPE A AND MORE PHENOTYPE B.

If you don't believe me (and why should you?), see A very-low-fat diet is not associated with improved lipoprotein profiles in men with a predominance of large, low-density lipoproteins, with particular reference to the following figure:-

At 50% fat intake, ~15% of the subjects have phenotype B. At 20% fat intake, ~50% of the subjects have phenotype B. At 10% fat intake, over 60% of the subjects have phenotype B. The subjects were all men, but women are no different in this respect.

And now we have Dietary fat intake and subsequent weight change in adults: results from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition cohorts.

"Results:...The difference in mean annual weight change was 0.90 g/y (95% CI: –0.54, 2.34 g/y) for men and –1.30g/y (95% CI: –3.70, 1.11 g/y) for women per 1 g/d energy-adjusted fat intake (residual method).

Conclusions: We found no significant association between the amount or type of dietary fat and subsequent weight change in this large prospective study. These findings do not support the use of low-fat diets to prevent weight gain."

Note: -1.30g/y means that as dietary fat intake increased, weight decreased.