Summary
Fans of carbohydrate laden foods may have reason to rejoice once again. Researchers have recently discovered that a diet rich in carbohydrates with a low glycemic index may actually reduce your risks of developing some cancers and heart disease, as opposed to a traditional low-fat diet. Foods with a low glycemic index are processed more slowly by your body and produce blood sugar much more slowly than high glycemic foods.
Low glycemic carbohydrates actually help regulate your blood sugar, instead of throwing it off by having your body produce too much insulin as your food is absorbed through the small intestine.
Original source:
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Details
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It cuts risk factors for heart disease and diabetes better than conventional low-fat diet, researchers say.
- A diet rich in the type of carbohydrates that maintain a more stable blood sugar beats out a conventional low-fat diet in reducing the risk factors for heart disease and diabetes, according to a new study.
- Researchers compared a diet rich in carbohydrates with a low glycemic index -- the type that stabilizes blood sugar -- with a conventional low-fat diet that included carbohydrates with a high glycemic index.
- The work by Pereira and his team appears in the Nov. 24 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
- In the study, those on the low-glycemic diets also achieved better improvement in blood pressure and blood fats, and their resting metabolic rate -- the rate at which the body burns energy or calories at rest -- didn't drop as much as it did for those on the low-fat diet.
- The low-glycemic diet got 43 percent of calories from carbohydrates, 27 percent from protein, and 30 percent from fat, Pereira said.
- (For the sake of comparison, the popular Zone diet consists of 40 percent of calories from protein, 30 percent from carbohydrates, and 30 percent from fat. Low-glycemic carbohydrates are recommended.)
- Pereira's team measured blood pressure, insulin resistance (a predictor of diabetes), blood fats and other risk factors for diabetes and heart disease, before and after the weight loss.
- "I think it's a very interesting study," said Alice Lichtenstein, a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association and professor of nutrition, science, and policy at Tufts University.
- She's referring to the fact that the low-glycemic menus allowed more fat -- about 30 percent -- than the low-fat, which allowed 18 percent fat.
About the author: Mike Adams is a natural health researcher, author and award-winning journalist with a strong interest in personal health, the environment and the power of nature to help us all heal He has authored more than 1,800 articles and dozens of reports, guides and interviews on natural health topics, and he has created several downloadable courses on survival and preparedness, including his widely-downloaded course on personal safety and self-defense. Adams is an independent journalist with strong ethics who does not get paid to write articles about any product or company. In 2010, Adams co-founded NaturalNews.com, a natural health video sharing site that has now grown in popularity. He's also a noted technology pioneer and founded a software company in 1993 that developed the HTML email newsletter software currently powering the NaturalNews subscriptions. Adams is currently the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit, and enjoys outdoor activities, nature photography, Pilates and martial arts training. He's also author of numerous health books published by Truth Publishing and is the creator of several consumer-oriented grassroots campaigns, including the Spam. Don't Buy It! campaign, and the free downloadable Honest Food Guide. He also created the free reference sites HerbReference.com and HealingFoodReference.com. Adams believes in free speech, free access to nutritional supplements and the ending of corporate control over medicines, genes and seeds. Known as the 'Health Ranger,' Adams' personal health statistics and mission statements are located at www.HealthRanger.org
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Monday, November 29, 2004
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