Low Carb, High Fat Diets Have No Impact on Artery Health
There's new research that suggests that low carb high fat diets don't impact artery health, as many experts had feared, but with one important caveat: lots of regular exercise is needed as part of as overall way of life.
While low carb is the standard for weight loss, doctors had worried that eating more fat would stress your blood vessels, therefore the research team examined the short-term impacts that a low carb, high fat single meal had on the body.
A low carb vs.
low fat eating plan was tested in dieters as well with no problems highlighted for the health of blood vessels.
There were many who thought that high fat, low carb diets bring a raise in cholesterol levels and therefore heart health dangers.
Now that may be changing.
In the first study researchers examined the effects of consuming a very high fat breakfast from a popular fast food chain.
The meal had over 900 calories along with 50 grams of fat - 50% of a whole day's intake.
Researchers then looked at an indicator of arterial stiffness along with another - endothelial function, a measure of the health of blood vessels.
After the single meal there were no vascular changes, and the arterial stiffness improved, though no one knows why.
The diet part of the project called for 55 participants (a mixture of males and females) who were obese or overweight to be assigned to either a low carbohydrate diet or a low fat (like Atkins, South Beach or Zone) plan.
These subjects had large waist measurements and abdominal obesity, both possible heart disease risk factors.
The low carbohydrate plan started with 55% fat, but moved to 40%, and it had almost 15% carbs at the start and then moved up to 40%.
The dieters in the other group were assigned the American Heart Association's low fat plan that calls for eating a maximum of 30% of your calories from fat each day.
Both groups exercised three days a week.
The low carb groups lost on average ten pounds in 45 days, while the low fat participants took 70 days to drop those first ten pounds.
The dieters had the identical blood vessel testing as the subjects in the fast food breakfast study and there remained no differences in the vascular measures.
The work will continue for six months longer.
Though considered initial, the news is good.
At the ten pound marker experts see no problems with the vasculature, and the researchers take this as a positive sign.
Other experts, believes more work should be done before assuming that low carb high fat diets don't impact our blood vessels - we just don't know the impact, long term.
There are nutrition experts who caution that longer term study is needed before thinking that eating a lot of fats does not hurt blood vessels.
Diseases of the blood vessels, as well as all conditions that fall under the broader term heart disease, can be impacted most effectively by making healthy lifestyle choices.
Eating a well balanced diet is a must, as is getting the activity your heart needs for optimum artery health.
While low carb is the standard for weight loss, doctors had worried that eating more fat would stress your blood vessels, therefore the research team examined the short-term impacts that a low carb, high fat single meal had on the body.
A low carb vs.
low fat eating plan was tested in dieters as well with no problems highlighted for the health of blood vessels.
There were many who thought that high fat, low carb diets bring a raise in cholesterol levels and therefore heart health dangers.
Now that may be changing.
In the first study researchers examined the effects of consuming a very high fat breakfast from a popular fast food chain.
The meal had over 900 calories along with 50 grams of fat - 50% of a whole day's intake.
Researchers then looked at an indicator of arterial stiffness along with another - endothelial function, a measure of the health of blood vessels.
After the single meal there were no vascular changes, and the arterial stiffness improved, though no one knows why.
The diet part of the project called for 55 participants (a mixture of males and females) who were obese or overweight to be assigned to either a low carbohydrate diet or a low fat (like Atkins, South Beach or Zone) plan.
These subjects had large waist measurements and abdominal obesity, both possible heart disease risk factors.
The low carbohydrate plan started with 55% fat, but moved to 40%, and it had almost 15% carbs at the start and then moved up to 40%.
The dieters in the other group were assigned the American Heart Association's low fat plan that calls for eating a maximum of 30% of your calories from fat each day.
Both groups exercised three days a week.
The low carb groups lost on average ten pounds in 45 days, while the low fat participants took 70 days to drop those first ten pounds.
The dieters had the identical blood vessel testing as the subjects in the fast food breakfast study and there remained no differences in the vascular measures.
The work will continue for six months longer.
Though considered initial, the news is good.
At the ten pound marker experts see no problems with the vasculature, and the researchers take this as a positive sign.
Other experts, believes more work should be done before assuming that low carb high fat diets don't impact our blood vessels - we just don't know the impact, long term.
There are nutrition experts who caution that longer term study is needed before thinking that eating a lot of fats does not hurt blood vessels.
Diseases of the blood vessels, as well as all conditions that fall under the broader term heart disease, can be impacted most effectively by making healthy lifestyle choices.
Eating a well balanced diet is a must, as is getting the activity your heart needs for optimum artery health.
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