Vegetable-based low-carb diets healthier than animal sources

By IB Times Staff Reporter: Subscribe to IB's RSS feed

September 7, 2010 10:36 AM EDT

A vegetable-based low-carbohydrate diet is probably healthier than animal sources and was linked to lower overall mortality rates, a study showed.

Two large, long-term cohort studies, which was published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, examined the relationships of animal-based and vegetable-based low-carbohydrate diets with mortality during 26 years of follow-up in women and 20 years in men.

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The study results suggest that the health effects of a low-carbohydrate diet may depend on the type of protein and fat, and a diet that includes mostly vegetable sources of protein and fat is preferable to a diet with mostly animal sources of protein and fat.

Participants in the study included 85,168 women from 1980 through 2006 and 44,548 men from 1986 through 2006 without heart disease, cancer, or diabetes.

Low-carbohydrate diets from animal and vegetable sources may have similar major macronutrient content, but the source of the macronutrients can result in large differences in dietary components that may affect mortality, such as specific fatty acids, protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals, and phytochemicals.

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According to the study, low-carbohydrate diets from animal and vegetable sources may have similar major macronutrient content, but the source of the macronutrients can result in large differences in dietary components that may affect mortality, such as specific fatty acids, protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals, and phytochemicals.

Therefore, the associations that we observed are more likely to be mediated by these bioactive components rather the carbohydrate content, the study authors concluded.

However, the current study has limitations, according to Eric Westman of Duke University Medical Center and Jeffrey Volek, associate professor at the University of Connecticut.

“This study is observational so it measures associations and cannot prove causation. Moreover, the association found was extremely weak,” said Westman.

“The authors only examined food intake once: at the start of the 20-plus-year study. If a person changed his diet at any point during the two-decade study it would not be reflected in the analysis.” said Volek.

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