Low carb diets harmful, the science.

The owner of that site is a well-known veg*n activist, so consider the source of any information for bias. I'm sure I could find just as many "experts" who disagree with him.

Klang180 said:

Don't shoot the messenger here please. Scientific analysis and data is our best chance to understand what different foods and diets do to us, a group that are more susceptible to health problems. I will admit that the low carb thing has never seemed sensible to me but with this evidence will anyone be rethinking their decision?

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Why has the low carb diet never seemed sensible to you? As a diabetic, I have the choice of reducing carb intake, increasing drugs, or suffering damage to my body through high blood sugar levels. To me that's no choice, I have to reduce carbs .

I am sure there are many studies promoting eating carbs. Foods that are high in carbs tend to be cheap, therefore it is easier for food manufacturers to make a profit making ready meals, snacks and drinks that are full of carbs and little else. So there will be junk 'scientific research' paid for by the food companies for us to swallow along with their junk food.

He inserted the word "Healthy" in front of veggy diet and high carb diet which implies a bias on his part.

He implied that higher cholesterol brings a greater risk of CVD which a lot of people claim. Professor Jeremy Pearson said, on BBC Breakfast that there are hundreds of studies that say this. I can't understand why Dr. Malcolm Kendrick says he is yet to find a single study to support that.

I thought the video was pushing a point from a biased presenter.

My last point is a general one. The video was not about diabetics. Lots of medical advice seems to be not about diabetics. The NHS healthy plate for example. If low carb is bad then perhaps the presenter can explain an alternative relevant to diabetics. We (Type 2's anyway) don't have a lot of choice if we don't want the problem to progress.

So much good and bad is written about a low carb diet nothing is conclusive because science research does not have enough data yet on the effects of diabetics doing it long term to say whether it is good or bad. All we know it is good for weight loss and for keeping BS levels down. Maybe in the future they will come up with something miraculous to keep BS levels down then we will not have to restrict anything from our diets

Is this the same man who claimed you will die from CVD if you eat more than one egg per week or something equally stupid?

Before diagnosis, on the occasions that I could manage to stay awake, I felt like ****.

Since switching to LCHF, I feel great. That is all the evidence I need to know I am doing the right thing for a good quality of life. Gotta die of something.

From an article here and one of many presenting an opposite view to that in the video http://primaldocs.com/opinion/cholesterol-is-not-the-enemy/
"Total Cholesterol and LDL Cholesterol aren’t nearly as good of a risk factor for heart disease as once thought, therefore cholesterol is not the problem.

Here is the problem: LDL Cholesterol is just a surrogate marker for the actual risk factor, which are apo B containing lipoproteins. Let me explain. Cholesterol cannot travel through the blood stream by itself so it attaches to these proteins called apolipoproteins to form what are called lipoproteins. It’s almost like cholesterol is the cargo and the apolipoprotein is the boat – together they make a cargo ship traveling through your arteries like a river. This is important to understand because it is an apolipoprotein (in particular, apolipoprotein B or apo B) and not the cholesterol that gets “stuck” in the inside of blood vessels and starts the atherosclerosis cascade. So you see it isn’t the cargo that is the problem, it is the ship that crashes into the sides of the river (the inner walls of your arteries) and causes damage. This is a super simplified version, but hopefully you get the gist. If you want a very technical version of this, checkout this detailed article."

I must also say that since changing to LCHF four months ago, I have halved my HbA1c from 89 to 46, lost 17lbs AND no longer suffer from IBS. HCPs are now beginning to realise that low carbing is a great way forward to maintain good BG control......there are thousands of us out there and plenty of papers to prove it. So thank you for the link, but I'm sticking with my new lifestyle, it works.

Professor Joe Schwarcz of McGill University recommends Greger's videos but says they contain "cherry-picking of data" and that Greger has swallowed veganism "hook, line, and sinker".[4] Sceptic and physician Harriet A. Hall has also criticized Greger's video Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death, saying his videos are part of a genre featuring "a charismatic scientist with an agenda who makes sweeping statements that go beyond the evidence, makes unwarranted assumptions about the meaning of studies, and omits any reference to contradictory evidence".[5]

Nuff said!

zand said:

Why has the low carb diet never seemed sensible to you? As a diabetic, I have the choice of reducing carb intake, increasing drugs, or suffering damage to my body through high blood sugar levels. To me that's no choice, I have to reduce carbs .

I am sure there are many studies promoting eating carbs. Foods that are high in carbs tend to be cheap, therefore it is easier for food manufacturers to make a profit making ready meals, snacks and drinks that are full of carbs and little else. So there will be junk 'scientific research' paid for by the food companies for us to swallow along with their junk food.

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One doesn't need a tinfoil hat to comprehend that there's good science and there's bad science.
The earliest one can learn to distinguish between the two, the better.

Studies with financial conflicts of interest were five times more likely to find no link between sugary drinks and weight gain: http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001578
I'm shocked, shocked I say.

Klang180 said:

with this evidence will anyone be rethinking their decision?

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Before starting low carb I looked at the evidence, but to be honest since I started LCHF my interest has waned: the reason is that regardless of its efficacy or otherwise in general (even general diabetic) populations, LCHF works for me. Like everyone I'm a unique combination of inherited and environmental factors, so my experience may not be relevant to anyone else: that's where broad studies come in. But having found that LCHF does work for me, no studies are likely to change my decision.

Kate

There's no money to be made in low carbing as it involves eating real food that's been around for donkeys years-simples!

Even if this said don't shoot the messenger, I would be tempted to do so! (My bad – sorry!)
So much misinformation.
annelise

paul-1976 said:

There's no money to be made in low carbing as it involves eating real food that's been around for donkeys years-simples!

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Yesterday I was reading an article about food unfairly demonised by the government, like fats and eggs.
This paragraph stuck in my mind:

"The crucial phrase 'avoid processed food' appears nowhere in government nutritional guidelines, yet this is the most concise way to sum up in practical terms what is wholesome and healthy to eat. Until this awareness shapes dietetic advice, all government dietary guidance should come with a tobacco-style caution: following this advice could seriously damage your health."

annelise said:

Even if this said don't shoot the messenger, I would be tempted to do so! (My bad – sorry!)
So much misinformation.
annelise

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Lol. We all find the evidence we look for, propping up the side of the argument we support.

And that includes me.

Beachbag said:

From an article here and one of many presenting an opposite view to that in the video
"Total Cholesterol and LDL Cholesterol aren’t nearly as good of a risk factor for heart disease as once thought, therefore cholesterol is not the problem..

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In many tests LDL-C is not even measured. Instead it is calculated from TC and HDL-C using a formula which is known to give inaccurate results in people who are insulin resistant.

Note also that the linked article does not ditinguish between ApoB-48 (intestine produced) and ApoB-100 (liver produced). Only the latter is found in pattern B LDL, which appears to be where the actual problem is.

ItalianKitten said:

Yesterday I was reading an article about food unfairly demonised by the government, like fats and eggs.
This paragraph stuck in my mind:

"The crucial phrase 'avoid processed food' appears nowhere in government nutritional guidelines, yet this is the most concise way to sum up in practical terms what is wholesome and healthy to eat. Until this awareness shapes dietetic advice, all government dietary guidance should come with a tobacco-style caution: following this advice could seriously damage your health."

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If you look at the "eatwell plate" one thing that you will notice is that the huge "starchy foods" section is made up almost entirely of highly processed foods.
Plenty of the things often demonised (including "processed meat") are actually far less processed than many of the things pushed as "healthy".

mpe said:

If you look at the "eatwell plate" one thing that you will notice is that the huge "starchy foods" section is made up almost entirely of highly processed foods. Plenty of the things often demonised (including "processed meat") are actually far less processed than many of the things pushed as "healthy".

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I'm vegetarian, so I must admit I'm not too well informed about meat, be it processed or not.
About the Food Pyramid, the My Plate, the Eatwell Plate. . yeah, well, I followed government
nutritional advice all my life and I ended up unwell and diabetic. Fool is the man who keeps
doing the same thing and expects a different result.

I've been on the LCHF regime for just three months and my health has already improved.
My GP is convinced I'm going to keel over and die from it, but I'm a stubborn ItalianKitten.
We'll see who's right.

Em... Well a high carb diet isn't going to help me. In fact , it will kill me.


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