Low Carb Diets and Mortality – Two Cohort Studies
Low carb or Atkins style meat-based diets are quite popular in current times, but are they really good for you? A recent study published on September 7th in the Annals of Internal Medicine sought to examine the relationship between low carb diets and mortality over 26 years in men and women. This was a prospective study carried out from 1980 to 2006 and involved thousands of men and women so its results are significant.
There was a direct association between colorectal and lung cancer mortality in the cohort consuming more animal foods and less carbohydrates. In fact, the researchers found that the group that consumed more animal foods and less carbohydrates had higher mortality from all causes including cancer. Conversely, they noticed lower mortality in the group that consumed more vegetable foods and less carbohydrates. Although, the study did not compare any of the popular diets today the authors did conclude that the health effects of a low carb diet depend on the protein and fat and a mostly vegetarian diet is preferable to a diet based mostly on meat.
