Filed a lawsuit against carbs

More data has been discovered showing that it is pure carbohydrates, and not fats, that endanger the heart

"Eat less saturated fat!" This has been the message of the United States government to the public for the past 30 years. And Americans did heed the message and, since 1970, have reduced their daily intake of calories derived from saturated fat. However, during this period the rate of obesity doubled, the rate of diabetes tripled and heart disease is still the number one cause of death in the US. A flurry of new studies, including a meta-analysis of nearly 24 studies, now points to why: The researchers may have ordered the wrong suspect. It is possible that processed carbohydrates, which many Americans eat today instead of fat, increase the risk of obesity, diabetes and heart disease even more than it does - a finding that has weighty implications for the new dietary guidelines expected to be published this year.

In March 2010, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a meta-analysis, that is, an analysis of data from several different studies, in which they examined the relationship between the declared daily food intake of almost 350,000 people and the risk of developing a disease in the cardiovascular system over a period of 5 to 23 years. The analysis, conducted under the supervision of Ronald M. Krause, director of atherosclerosis research at the Oakland Children's Hospital Research Institute, found no relationship between the amount of saturated fat consumed and the risk of heart disease.

This finding joins other conclusions that have emerged in recent years, challenging the popular opinion that saturated fat is harmful to the heart because it raises the total cholesterol level. This opinion "is largely based on assumptions that are not supported by the data," Kraus says.

One of the flaws in the old way of thinking is that "the total cholesterol level is not such a good measure of the level of risk," says Meir Stamper, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard University's School of Public Health. Saturated fat does raise the levels of "bad" cholesterol, LDL, in the blood, but it also raises the level of "good" cholesterol, HDL. In 2008, Stamper participated in a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in which 322 moderately obese subjects were followed for two years. In these two years, the subjects followed one of three dietary regimes: a low-fat diet with a restriction on the amount of calories, based on the guidelines of the "American Heart Association"; Mediterranean diet with calorie restriction, rich in vegetables and low in beef and a low-carb diet, without calorie restriction. Although the subjects who followed the low-carb diet ate the most saturated fat, the ratio between HDL-cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol was the healthiest for them, and they lost twice as much weight compared to the subjects who ate little fat.

Stamper's findings not only suggest that saturated fat is not so bad, they also show that carbohydrates may be more harmful than it is. In another study in which Stamper participated, published in 1997 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, 65,000 women were examined and rated according to the consumption of carbohydrates that are easy to digest and assimilate, that is, carbohydrates with a high glycemic index. They found that the risk of women in the top 20% of this ranking, that is, those who consumed the most easily digestible carbohydrates, of developing type 2 diabetes was 47% greater than women in the lowest 20% of the ranking (the amount of fat the women ate did not affect the risk of developing in diabetes.) A study conducted in the Netherlands in 2007 and published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology examined 15,000 women and found that women with excess weight in the highest quartile, that is, those who consumed meals with the highest average glycemic index (this is an estimate that takes into account the size of the portion) are at high risk 79% develop coronary artery disease compared to similar women in the lower quartile. Part of the explanation for these trends could be the see-saw effect that carbohydrates with a high glycemic index have on the blood glucose level. These fluctuations can stimulate the production of fats and encourage the development of inflammation, increase total calorie intake and reduce insulin sensitivity, says David Ludwig, director of the obesity treatment program at Boston Children's Hospital.

Will the current concept regarding fats and carbohydrates be expressed in the federal dietary guidelines for the American public in 2010, guidelines that are updated once every five years? It depends on the reliability of the evidence, says Robert C. Post, deputy director of the USDA's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. Findings that are "less established are added to the to-do list that requires further research." Right now, Post explains, the main message from the authorities to the American public is to reduce calorie consumption in general, regardless of the type of food. "We believe that the message to consumers should be short, simple and to the point," he says. Another issue facing the regulatory authorities, notes Temper of Harvard, is that "the sugary drink industry operates a very strong lobby and tries to cast doubt on all these studies."

No one is saying that everyone should be chowing down on saturated fat right now, even if that sounds tempting. There are types of unsaturated fats, such as those found in fish and olive oil for example, that can protect against heart disease. Furthermore, there are certain high-fiber carbohydrates that are undoubtedly healthy for the body. But it may eventually turn out that saturated fats have almost no effect compared to carbohydrates and processed sugars found in, for example, breakfast cereals, bread, pasta and cookies.

"If you reduce the consumption of saturated fat and replace it with carbohydrates with a high glycemic index, not only is there no benefit, it may even be harmful," claims Ludwig. The next time you eat toast with butter, he says, think about the fact that the butter is actually the healthiest ingredient in it."