A Few More Reasons To Switch Your Diet!

Category: Diet and Nutrition

Medically oriented goals for healthy diets usually center on lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease through reduction of risk factors, including high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Other valid goals are reducing the risk of other chronic diseases that result in increased risk of morbidity and death like type 2 diabetes. An article appearing in the Journal of the American Medical Association (2005;294:2455-2464) suggests that patients consuming diets containing less saturated fat, should not be making up the rest of the calories with carbohydrates, as was once advised.

Researchers from Johns Hopkins and Brigham and Women's Hospital examined the effects of three dietary patterns on two cardiovascular disease risk factors - cholesterol and high blood pressure. The three diets all contained reduced levels of saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium but differed as follows:

1) DASH-type carbohydrate diet - rich in carbohydrates (58%) mostly from fruits and vegetables and whole grains, and 15% protein
2) a diet higher in protein (25%), with at least half of the protein from plant sources
3) a higher unsaturated fat diet, mostly monounsaturated fat.

Subjects enrolled in the randomized, cross over trial were healthy and over 30 years of age, and consumed each diet for 6 weeks. The results showed that both the higher protein and higher unsaturated fat diets lowered blood pressure and improved lipid profiles compared with the carbohydrate diet. In light of this evidence, to prevent cardiovascular disease, patients should be recommended diets that are rich in good fats and healthy protein sources, over higher carbohydrate based diets, even if the carbohydrates are "good carbs."

Posted by Kristopher Foster on October 23, 2013 11:00 AM