Study: Some Low-Carb Diets Up Cancer, Death Risk

(CBS)  Just because you're losing weight on a low-carb diet doesn't mean it's a healthy diet.

A study being published Tuesday in the Annals of Internal Medicine says a low-carb diet based on animal protein increases the risk for cancer and death.

However, a vegetable-based low-carb diet may contribute to lower heart disease and death rates, the research indicates.

CBS News Medical Correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton noted on "The Early Show" the study didn't look specifically at popular diets, such as the Atkins Diet. Instead, it generalized between animal-based and vegetable-based low-carb diets.

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The research, she explained, looked at about 130,000 people, and found that low-carb diets based on animal proteins were associated with a higher death rate compared to vegetable-based low carb diets. Meat-based low carb diets were specifically linked to higher lung and colorectal cancer deaths -- other studies have also confirmed that red-meats and processed meats carry cancer risks. Meat-based diets often are high in saturated fats and cholesterol.

A veggie protein-based low-carb diet, Ashton points out, includes healthy fats, such as olive oil and avocado, no-starch gluten products, soy foods, nuts, beans, fruits and vegetables.

The study found that a benefit of this type of diet is that it can have a lower risk for heart disease. Other studies have found that low-calorie, low-carb diets have improved BAD cholesterol levels and other heart disease risk factors. With a vegetable-based low-carb diet, you're consuming more unsaturated fats, dietary fiber and micronutrients, such as magnesium and potassium.

Ashton added that, while these diets are low-carb, that doesn't mean you completely eliminate carbohydrates. You need them, and there are healthy ones.

Americans consume unhealthy amounts of bad carbohydrates and starches, such as sugar, and products that contained white flour, such as bread. But the Institute of Medicine recommends that adults get 45-65 percent of their calories from carbohydrates to provide enough energy and fuel for physical activity and good health. These low-carb diets generally advise people to consume about half of that recommended amount.

Healthy carb substitutes include whole grains, such as high-fiber oat-bran cereal and brown rice, beans for protein and fiber, and fruits and vegetables, such as okra and eggplant. These boost your health by incorporating minerals, vitamins and fiber into your diet.

Another study out Tuesday finds that consumers often misinterpret low-carb claims on the front of food packages.

The study, in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, observed a 516 percent increase in sales of low-carb foods from 2001 to 2005.

What consumers and dieters need to know, says Ashton, is that you need to check out the claims from these products. Check the nutrition facts panel on the back of the package to see if the contents fit into the type of diet you're aiming for -- this packaged food is supposed to be part of an overall diet -- and just because it's low in carbs doesn't mean it's low in calories. A good rule of thumb is to always look for that Nutrition Facts panel on the package.

Ashton stressed that you should consult your doctor before starting any diet, especially if you have health issues. For example, people with a history of heart disease should probably avoid a low-carb diet that focuses on meats, because of its saturated fats.

You want to remember that to lose weight, you will probably have to decrease the number of calories you consume. These diets -- whether they're low-carb or low-fat -- usually reduce the numbers of calories you take in. You also want to look for diets that are flexible in a healthy way -- instead of completely restricting one type of food, look for a diet that incorporates a lot of food groups. That way, you'll be more likely to stick with it. since it gives you more choices.

[reddog4321]

You have to be skeptical about any "scientific" article that states "you need carbohydrates". There are no essential carbohydrates, just essential amino and fatty acids. There are groups of people in the world who eat virtually no carbohydrates and are quite healthy. Once a false statement like that is placed in an article, the whole thing must be read with some suspicion.

Secondly, are we to believe that for the million years before the agricultural revolution people were dying left and right from cancer, obesity, and diabetes due to their heavy meat diets? They were all in terrible health until we finally figured out how to make bread and refine sugar, then it all got better? How does nature manage to evolve a species for millions of years on the wrong food? And why haven't archeologists uncovered this discovery. They do uncover that since the 1st agricultural revolution 10,000 years ago, people became less muscular, smaller, had more dental problems, and see evidence of diabetes and other modern diseases that all seem to appear at this time. They were recently surprised by Egyptian remains that indicate, despite a diet of little meat and mostly "good carbs": whole grains, fruits, veggies, etc... the Egyptians were obese and had many of the maladies we suffer. How is that explained?

Let's face it, the nutritions do not know conclucsively one way or another and this argument has become religious with simple "faith" dictating that carbohydrates "must" be better for you and based on the philosophy that you are what you eat so if you eat fat, that must make you fat right? And when actual evidence forces them to back off a little then it is, "Well there are good carbs and bad carbs..." and "stay away from animal fats but ok to eat more vegetable fats". Our ancestors had no substantial vegetable fats and ate mostly aniaml fat.

Also consider most of the studies for or against carbs are suspect. They never describe the full picture. They'll say something like "people who eat more red meat die earlier..." but they do not take into account other correlating factors, e.g. maybe people who eat more red meat are also people who eat more carb heavy junk food. The studies usually never go that far as it would be impossible to track people for a decade and monitor everything they eat.

Every overweight person I know has a diet that is obscenely rich in carbohydrates. I'll use the wisdom of our pre-agricultural ancestors that went through life without debilitating diet related diseases and eat what they did, or as close to it as I can.

[nanlam]

While there is so much criticism for a low-carb diet based on animal products, can we also look for a positive side? would a low carb diet still be healthier than a diet high in carbs and animal products? the way the study was portrayed in this article made it seemed like an animale based, low carb diet caused cancer and such but compared to an average american not on a diet, their risks are most likely less. The participants of the study ate the recommended calorie count and obviously monitered health on a regular basis. It seems to me that both diets could be right in that they are better for you in varying amounts

[veggitales91]

Not enough attention is paid to the difference between processed carbs like white bread, and whole carbs, like brown rice. Whole grains are processed slower by the body and do not cause the insulin spike that eventually leads to diabetes among other things. Since some carbs are needed they might as well be healthy carbs, and the government should stop subsidizing the the production of corn that gets turned into refined products (which is most of it).

[cindylochen]

In most cases, people become too obsessed about diets and losing weight. Bad media convinces people to adopt low-fat or low-carb or gluten-free diets and then the food industry creates products according to these diets to make profit. Dieters read the biggest letters on packages and nutrition facts but disregard the ingredients and origin of those ingredients. People think they are eating healthy when they buy packages marked "all-natural" or "low-fat". The healthiest diet comes from local, seasonal, organic vegetables and fruits, natural meats, whole grains, beans, cage-free eggs, etc. If we really want to be healthy, we need to eat a variety of foods and frequent the local farmers market for fresh produce and artisanal goods. The best way to eat is the most simple; buy from the farmer and know your ingredients.

[elli824]

This study only proves an inherent truth: BALANCE is vital to good health and nutrition. Recent diet fads have completely revamped the image of the low-carb diet, losing its original intent. Low-carb was originally supposed to motivate people to cut out simple carbs/ empty calories commonly found in white bread, candy, etc. Instead, people have been taking it to the extreme, to the point where one couldn't walk into a supermarket without finding everything from drinks to meats labelled "low-carb." Of course overeating meat will cause a build-up of artery-clogging substances. That is because a low-carb diet does not mean replace all your meals with meat. It means reduce your intake of simple carbs and find healthier alternatives to these foods.

[cktirumalai]

My most receent comment was addressed to clemensmj.
Candadai Tirumalai

[cktirumalai]

I don't know if you are an Atkins partisan. You may be. If so it is up to others to decide if your representation of his diet is objective. A quick search on the Internet will reveal that informed individuals have serious reservations about it.
Candadai Tirumalai

[walkshe]

I wonder how many of their subjects were identical in everything else (smoking, drinking, excercise, sex, age, weight,etc.) I doubt that they were, and those things can definitely affect the outcome of a study. To say that meat is bad for you without everything being equal isn't really a proper study.

[Nate650]

Sadly no distinction was made in this study between cheap industrial meats and pasture-raised meats. People are often not aware that health concerns surrounding meat is linked to the way industrial meats are produced and that meat itself (the way it was produced 100 years ago) is not the problem.

[jauxred]

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