Fats: Perhaps they don’t cause heart disease after all

Still on the subject of food and weight, a low carbohydrate/high protein diet – as promulgated by Atkins and others – doesn’t cause heart disease.
 
In fact, people whose diet was rich in protein and fat had a slightly lower risk of developing heart disease compared with those who ate more carbohydrates.
Admittedly, the researchers weren’t specifically testing the Atkins diet when they conducted the research.  But because so many people were worried about the health risks associated with the controversial diet, researchers decided to look back through the records of the nurses’ health study, which has been collecting health data on 82,000 participants since 1980.

Of course, this doesn’t just put to rest some of the worst fears surrounding the Atkins diet, it also turns on its head conventional wisdom about fats and heart disease.

(Source: New England Journal of Medicine, 2006; 355: 1991-2002).


E-news broadcast 23 November 2006 No.312 [Subscribe]