Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 Interestingly, the low-carb diet was three times more effective at losing weight from the trunk area of the body than a low-fat diet. That may be of special interest to many people who are looking at ways to eliminate abdominal fat.
The Atkins diet is under fire these days, with some people claiming their ridiculous consumption of high fat foods was "recommended" by the Atkins diet and that, therefore, their cardiovascular disease is the fault of Atkins Nutritionals. |
Lester A. Mitscher and Victoria Toews
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 Conversely, a low-fat diet has been shown to reduce the risk of many cancers. An additional benefit of a low-fat diet is the fact that it helps most people maintain a healthy weight. Besides total fat intake, the type of fat in the diet appears to affect cancer risk. There are many different types of dietary fat; some have tumor-promoting properties, and others have tumor-inhibiting properties.
Saturated fat has the strongest link to colon and prostate cancer. Some research shows polyunsaturated fat to have a moderately significant relationship to cancer. |
Hyla Cass, M.D.
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 Over the past twenty years, the low-fat diet craze has caused many people to replace fat in their diets with low-fat carbohydrates, and the result has been a nationwide epidemic of obesity. Imbalanced or inadequate intake of fats can cause everything from PMS and infertility to depression, anxiety, and even premature aging. Research conducted at Harvard showed that high-carbohydrate, low-fat diets may actually increase the risk of heart disease by reducing the levels of the protective or "good" HDL (high-density lipoprotein) cholesterol in the bloodstream. |
Bottom Line Health
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| Did the low-fat diet prevent recurrence—or did the weight loss? Also, because the women ate less fat, they may have been eating more fruits and vegetables, which contain anticancer nutrients.
What it means: Women who have been treated for breast cancer do not necessarily need a low-fat diet, but they should be thoughtful about what they eat and maintain a healthy weight.
Study Supports Surgery for Metastatic Breast Cancer
Elisabetta Rapiti, MD, MPH, senior researcher, Geneva Cancer Registry, University of Geneva, Switzerland.
Lori J. |
Connie Bennett, C.H.H.C. with Stephen T. Sinatra, M.D.
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 In the study published in Diabetes, eight male participants followed a low-fat diet for five weeks (comprising 55 percent carbohydrates, 15 percent protein, and 30 percent fat, such as that recommended by the USDA and the American Heart Association), then took five weeks off (called a "washout"), and then came back and ate a low-carb diet (20 percent carbs, 30 percent protein, and 50 percent fat) for another five weeks. (Or they started with the low-carb diet first and finished with the low-fat diet. |
Wendy Bazilian, DRPH, MA, RD, Steven Pratt, MD, Kathy Matthews
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 The other group was on a low-fat diet with only 20 percent of calories from fat. After 6 months both groups lost about the same amount of weight. But the real change came after 18 months. By then the average weight loss on the higher-fat diet was roughly 10 pounds compared to the low-fat dieters' loss of about 6 pounds. And after 1 more year the higher-fat diet group had been able to maintain almost all of their weight loss.12 Of course the critical issue here is the type of fat. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 Proponents of one diet or the other debate over the merits of their particular dieting strategy, but neither seem to recognize that the entire "low-carb versus low-fat diet" argument only serves as a distraction from the real solution to weight loss: shifting to a unprocessed, non-manufactured foods.
The real test about weight loss should compare diets consisting of processed foods versus unprocessed foods. What is a processed food? It's a food that is manufactured and typically sold in pretty packaging at a very high markup price over the cost of its basic ingredients. |
Andreas Moritz
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 An eight-year study of 48,835 women published in February 2006 by the Journal of the American Medical Association found that the study participants failed to lose a measurable amount of weight on the low-fat diet. To the contrary, most of them remained overweight which put them at an even greater risk for cardiovascular disease despite following their low-fat regimen. In addition, the study showed that low-fat diets had zero health benefits in regard to avoiding the risk of getting cancer and heart disease. |
Gabriel Cousens
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 Additional research has confirmed that when walnuts are eaten as part of a modified low-fat diet, the result is a more cardioprotective fat profile in diabetic patients than can be achieved by simply lowering the fat content of the diet. In a study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, all fifty-five study participants with Type-2 diabetes were put on low-fat diets, but the only group to achieve a cardioprotective fat profile were those who ate walnuts (30 grams—about one ounce—per day).70 Other studies have found similar results.71'72'73'74 Dr. |
Hyla Cass
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| Over the past twenty years, the low-fat diet craze has caused many people to replace fat in their diets with low-fat carbohydrates, and the result has been a nationwide epidemic of obesity. Imbalanced or inadequate intake of fats can cause everything from PMS and infertility to depression, anxiety, and even premature aging. Research conducted at Harvard showed that high-carbohydrate, low-fat diets may actually increase the risk of heart disease by reducing the levels of the protective or "good" HDL (high-density lipoprotein) cholesterol in the bloodstream. |
Gabriel Cousens
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| From these results he theorized that a low-fat diet activated the natural ability to open the insulin receptors in the cells to allow glucose into the system. In another study, he observed ninety-nine people over twenty-two weeks. Forty-nine were on a vegan low-fat diet with no animal products and no limits on complex carbohydrates. The remaining fifty people were on the basic American Diabetes Association diet. The ADA diet reduced glycosylated hemoglobin by 0.4 percent. The vegan diet was three times more effective, reducing the HgbAlc by 1. |
Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S.
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 Rolls' research has shown that a high-volume eating plan produces more weight loss than a low-fat diet.
Lycopene in Watermelon May Reduce Risk of Prostate Cancer
But water isn't the only good thing about watermelon. Watermelon is a great source of a carotenoid called lycopene, which in several studies has been shown to be associated with lower rates of prostate cancer. In one study, at the Karmanos Cancer Institute at Wayne State University, men facing surgery for prostate cancer were given 30 mg of lycopene for three weeks before undergoing surgery. |
Connie Bennett, C.H.H.C. with Stephen T. Sinatra, M.D.
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| More in chapter 14, "The Chronic Big Killers," about how a landmark study recently debunked the efficacy of a low-fat diet.)
The Emphasis on Quality Carbs Endures
More recently, other experts/authors, including Dr. Michael Eades and Dr. Mary Dan Eades in their book Protein Power; the four authors of SUGAR BUSTERS! Cut Sugar to Trim Fat; Diana Schwarzbein, M.D., in her Schwarzbein Principle books; and Fred Pescatore, M.D., in The Hamptons Diet, have also sought to educate the public about the health and weight-loss benefits of cutting out inferior, quickie carbs. |
| Shortly, I'll discuss some compelling research that uncovers this sugar-chronic disease connection, but it's helpful to know first that, in early 2006, as I was completing final editing on this book, a landmark, seven-year, government-sponsored study, the Women's Health Initiative, found, as reported in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association, that the low-fat diet did not prevent breast cancer, colon cancer, or heart disease, as the USDA, the American Heart Association, and other groups had been predicting since the 1970s. |
| Ludwig and his colleagues looked at 46 overweight or obese adults aged 18 to 40 who consumed either a standard low-fat diet or a low-glycemic-load (GL) diet. Both diets provided about 1,500 calories a day, but the low-GL group ate more fat and superior carbs, consuming, for instance, steel-cut oats instead of instant oatmeal, blueberries instead of raisins, and cracked-wheat bread instead of tortilla chips. |
| Or they started with the low-carb diet first and finished with the low-fat diet.) Whatever the order in which they followed the diets, "when they switched to the low-carb diet, their blood glucose decreased dramatically and was approaching the normal range," Dr. Nuttall explains, adding that he and Dr. Gannon call this low-carb diet a low-biologically-available-glucose diet or "LoBAG diet."
"Our focus was on lowering the glucose content of the diet," says Dr. |
Bottom Line Health
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| Rossouw, WHI project officer at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI).
The low-fat diet did not appreciably reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, stroke or cardiovascular disease, achieving only modest effects on triglyceride levels.
However, LDL ("bad") cholesterol levels and diastolic blood pressure were significantly reduced.
The researchers also note that a high intake of carbohydrates did not increase body weight, but rather, tended to maintain it.
INTERPRETATIONS
Dr. |
| What it means: Women who have been treated for breast cancer do not necessarily need a low-fat diet, but they should be thoughtful about what they eat and maintain a healthy weight.
Study Supports Surgery for Metastatic Breast Cancer
Elisabetta Rapiti, MD, MPH, senior researcher, Geneva Cancer Registry, University of Geneva, Switzerland.
Lori J. Goldstein, MD, director, breast evaluation center, and leader, breast cancer research program, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia.
Journal of Clinical Oncology. |
Tori Hudson, N.D.
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 Postmenopausal women and men over 65 require a greater intake of calcium because absorption of calcium is less efficient, but the dietary intake of calcium is usually lower because of intolerance to dairy products or elimination of dairy products as part of a low-fat diet.
Lifestyle factors, such as the level of physical activity, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, and additional nutritional influences can profoundly impact bones. We will expand on these in the overview of alternative treatments. |
Bottom Line Health
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| It's also not clear if starting a low-fat diet earlier in life can confer a greater reduction in heart disease risk. All of the women in the study were postmenopausal when they changed their eating habits.
CAUTIONS
Despite the somewhat surprising findings, experts still believe women should follow a healthy lifestyle.
"We have to be very careful. The last thing I want is someone to go out eating a high-fat, high-calorie diet," says Dr. Nieca Goldberg, former chief of women's cardiac care at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City and a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association (AHA). |
Tori Hudson, N.D.
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| The simplest way to accomplish the necessary levels of fat reduction is to avoid animal fats in all forms; a vegan diet (vegetarian, without any animal products at all, including dairy or eggs) is naturally a very low-fat diet. Of course, vegetarians, and even strict vegans, can succumb to fat in other forms like french fries, potato chips, and other greasy fried foods. |
Bottom Line Health
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| However, women in the low-fat group who had eaten a higher fat diet before the study began did'have a significant reduction in their risk of breast cancer, indicating that such a diet might indeed confer a benefit.
The low-fat diet did not reduce the risk of colorectal cancer, but there was a reduction in the incidence of polyps, a precursor to this type of cancer, allowing for the possibility that some benefit may appear in the future.
"It's possible that with longer-term adherence to such a diet, a benefit might emerge," says Dr. Jacques E. |
Marshall Editions
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 Lifestyle modifications: A high-fiber, low-fat diet and reducing your intake of dairy and processed foods is recommended. Perform an aerobic exercise for 20 minutes every day to help with the weight gain that tends to occur with menopause. Stress-reduction techniques are also recommended.
Hormone replacement: Balancing the hormones can help the emotional challenges associated with menopause, as well as other troubling symptoms such as vaginal dryness, skin dryness, and low libido. |
Wendy Bazilian, DRPH, MA, RD, Steven Pratt, MD, Kathy Matthews
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| Indeed, research has shown that over the long term, in studies lasting over 6 months, weight loss was more than three times greater in individuals who consumed a lower-fat, high-fiber diet than those who consumed a low-fat diet alone.63 So high-fiber foods like oats and pumpkin fill you up and keep you satisfied. When you include them in your meals, you'll struggle less with hunger and thus will find it much easier to stick with your weight-loss goals.
Fiber also plays a role in reducing the rate at which blood glucose rises following a meal. |
Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S.
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| Research at Duke University published in the journal Urology showed that men with prostate cancer who were given 3 tablespoons of flaxseed per day and a low-fat diet had decreased cancer cell growth. And lignans interfere with the production of a nasty testosterone metabolite (DHT, dihydrotestos-terone), which is partly responsible for hair loss and benign prostate hyperplasia (the condition that makes men over forty have to go to the bathroom a lot at night).
The flaxseeds—but not, obviously, the oil— also contain soluble fiber. |
David W. Grotto, RD, LDN
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 WEIGHT LOSS: A study conducted by researchers from the State University of Rio de laneiro found that overweight women who added three apples a day to their low-fat diet lost more weight than those women who did not add in apples.
BRAIN HEALTH: A 2005 animal study found that eating apple products may help protect against cellular damage attributed to memory loss. In another animal study, this time with mice, researchers added apple juice concentrate to their diet. |
Hyla Cass, M.D.
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| Perhaps you've made a shift to a low-fat diet based on that doctor's advice, rejecting eggs, whole-milk dairy products, butter, and meat in favor of "reduced-cholesterol egg products," skim milk, margarine, and foods made mostly with processed grains. Here's what your doctor may not have told you:
• A review of five big studies found that the risk of non-fatal heart attack and stroke was reduced by 1.4 percent in people on statin therapy—but that the rate of serious adverse effects rose 1.8 percent in those same people. |
Ray D. Strand
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 Physicians also realize that patients who eat a low-fat diet, which includes at least seven servings of fruits and vegetables daily, enjoy further health benefits. These include:
• weight loss.
• a decreased risk of diabetes.
• a decreased risk of heart disease.
• a decreased risk of almost all cancers.
• a decreased risk of high blood pressure.
• a decreased risk of elevated cholesterol.
• an enhanced immune system.
• an increased sensitivity to insulin.
• increased energy and ability to concentrate.
Let's face it: a healthy diet is a win/win situation! |
| Eat a low-fat diet. Excessive fat intake at meals is known to induce oxidative stress, especially when adequate amounts of antioxidants are missing in that meal. We must decrease saturated-fat intake, making certain we consume at least seven servings of fruits and vegetables and more than thirty-five grams of fiber each day. (I know you have heard all this before; but less than 9 percent of the population follows this advice!)11
4. Be Aware of Other Carcinogens. |
| The first step toward building a strong immune system is to eat a high-fiber, low-fat diet largely made up of fruits and vegetables.
But we need more to practice chemoprevention. Medical research is beginning to demonstrate that taking antioxidants in supplementation to our diet is very important in chemoprevention. Studies show that supplementation of a good diet over a twenty-week period of time with vitamin C, vitamin E, and beta-carotene resulted in a significant decrease of the oxidative damage to the DNA of both smokers and nonsmokers. |
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