http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0611090062nov09,1,1064638.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
Study finds low-carb diets OK for heart
Associated Press
Published November 9, 2006
Eating a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet for years doesn't raise the risk of heart disease, a long-term study suggests.
The study of thousands of women over two decades found that those who got lots of their carbohydrates from refined sugars and highly processed foods nearly doubled their risk of heart disease.
At the same time, those who ate a low-carb diet but got more of their protein and fat from vegetables rather than animal sources cut their heart disease risk by 30 percent on average, compared with those who ate more animal fats.
The findings came from researchers at Harvard University's schools of medicine and public health who reviewed records of 82,802 women in the ongoing Nurses' Health Study over 20 years. The women were not dieting to lose weight. In fact, on average they were slightly overweight and increased their body-mass index roughly 10 percent during the study.
Conventional wisdom says risk of heart disease should increase for those eating the lowest-carb, highest-fat diet, said lead author Thomas Halton.
"It didn't, which was a little eye-opening," he said.
For American Dietetic Association spokeswoman Susan Moores, the key finding was that women reduced heart disease risk by eating more protein and fat from vegetable sources.
"That was the biggest `Aha!"' she said.
Moores, a dietitian in St. Paul, said that because the study only included women, many going through menopause and taking hormones, it is unclear how it applies to men.
The findings are reported in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.