This is the weekly digest for my Low Carb Nugget Podcast. In the latest episodes of the podcast, I reviewed the goals and plans for my upcoming keto diet reboot, considered the top three LCHF survival foods that are nutritious, shelf-stable and easy to find, and examined a recent study that found eating a modest amount of plant-based foods might help you live longer. Each title below links to the episode's show notes at LCHFGazette.com. … [Read more...]
High-carb, low-fat diets associated with increased risk of early death
A major new study has found an association between low-fat diets and an increased risk of premature death. The large epidemiological cohort study, published in The Lancet, followed more than 135,000 people in 18 countries around the world to uncover the relationship between dietary macro-nutrients and cardiovascular disease and mortality. High, middle, and low-income groups were included. The researchers documented nearly 5,800 deaths and 4,800 major cardiovascular disease events in the … [Read more...]
Study: low-carb diet reduces food cravings
A study in The FASEB Journal (which, as you probably know, well-read person that you are, is the Official Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology) finds that consuming a low-carb, high-fat diet is "associated with reductions in cravings for all food categories." The researchers define a craving as "an intense desire to consume a particular food that is difficult to resist." … [Read more...]
Whole grain consumption and/or many other factors may help you live longer
From the headlines, you'd think that just eating more whole grain would enable you to live to a very ripe old age. "Eat Whole Grains For A Long Life, New Study Says" (Forbes). "Fiber From Whole Grains Linked To Longer Life" (Huffington Post) "More Whole Grains May Boost Life Span" (WebMD) It turns out that things are more complicated than the headlines. There are many factors determining when you bid the world good-bye, with how much whole grain you chewed your way through possibly being … [Read more...]
Red meat and colon cancer: what’s the real risk?
Life is full of risks -- some real and some statistical. Most of the risks claimed by observational studies fall into the statistical category. By "statistical," I mean "imaginary." For instance, a study published yesterday in JAMA Internal Medicine (online) entitled "Vegetarian Dietary Patterns and the Risk of Colorectal Cancers" suggests that eating a vegetarian diet will reduce a person's risk of getting colon cancer by over 20% . Or to put it the other way around, regularly eating red meat … [Read more...]
Study: lifetime “dose” of obesity linked to diabetes risk
My old alma mater is famous for a football stadium that seats (or at least wedges in) about 113,000 people, give or take a couple thousand. If the current obesity trend continues, it will get progressively harder to squeeze all those spectator butts into Michigan Stadium without the liberal use of butter. This lends special urgency to the research into the causes, consequences and cures for obesity, some of it being conducted across town in Ann Arbor at the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital. A … [Read more...]
Is red meat guilty by association? Some at Harvard think so
The Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) giveth to the low-carb community, and it taketh away. In late June 2011, the HSPH published a study singling out potatoes as a particularly fattening food, especially in the form of french fries. Having sworn off fries forever as part of my low-carb way of eating, I applauded the brilliance of the findings. I also liked the general conclusion that all calories are not equal when it comes to packing on pounds. Now I'm wondering what could have caused … [Read more...]
Health science short-takes
Even in mid-summer, science marches on. Here are a few diet/science related stories that caught my eye this morning. Healthy Lifestyle Makes Women Less Likely to Die Suddenly | Medpagetoday.com The focus of the study being reported on here is how to prevent sudden cardiac death (SCD) in women. The study (published in the July 6 issue of JAMA) followed over 80,000 women, mostly white professionals, aged 30 to 55 at the start, from 1984 to 2010. The participants completed lifestyle … [Read more...]
Why we snack
Do we eat more because we eat more often? Yes, says a study that claims Americans eat 570 more calories per day now than they did 30 years ago because they are eating all of the time. The study's lead author, Professor Barry Popkin of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told CNN Health that "the real reason we seem to be eating more (calories) is we're eating often." But is eating frequency all there is to it, or does what a person eats make a difference? To say we are eating … [Read more...]
Make mine water
Since going low-carb, I’ve mostly avoided drinking diet pop or making recipes that include artificial sweeteners. Over the past four months, I’ve downed three bottles of Diet Coke and used three small packets of Stevia (a sugar substitute). I’ve also bought and consumed a four-pack of an Atkins chocolate milk-shake product that contained an artificial sweetener, the only packaged low-carb treat that I've tried. Otherwise, except for berries, I have forgone sweet flavors. It could be I’m … [Read more...]