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Loading...Harvard Study: High Protein Diets Can Kill
A new study from Harvard is telling people to ditch their steak and dive into a bean burger instead or suffer an early demise.
The major piece of research debunks the theory that Atkins-type diets based on eating animal protein are good for your health. Instead the results demonstrated the best way to keep carbs in check and diseases at bay is by consuming a diet of plant-based proteins.
The Harvard study which was published on Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine looked at 85,168 women and 44,548 men for a period of more than 20 years. It found that their risk of dying from heart disease and cancer dramatically increased when they followed an animal based protein diet.
Mortality Rates From Consuming Animals
- The risk of dying from heart disease increased 14 percent.
- The risk of dying from cancer increased 28 percent.
On the flip side, the mortality rate decreased in people who got most of the protein in their diets from plants.
Teresa Fung of Simmons College was the lead author of the study. She said in an interview with USA Today, “beans and nuts are protein powerhouses.”
The researchers do not want to discourage people from eating low-carbohydrate diets. Americans eat too many refined carbs such as sugar and white flour.
One researcher in the study said, “People are just over-carbing. Cereal bowls look like bowls for a casserole. People eat granola bars all day.”
The study revealed that individuals who exchanged processed carbs with plant-based foods had a lower risk of dying from cancer and heart disease.
“You can have the initial Atkins-type of low-carb diet, which is loaded with sausages, bacon, steaks, and you can have healthy versions of the low-carb diet with more vegetable or plant-based protein and fat,” said Dr. Frank B. Hu, senior researcher and professor of nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health to Bloomberg Businessweek.
“We looked at these two versions of low-carb diets and found that the impact of the two are drastically different,” Hu said.
“Those who follow the animal-based low-carb diet have an increased risk of total mortality and cancer mortality in particular,” said Hu.
Plant-based low carb diets typically consist of fats from vegetable oils, nuts and peanut butter while proteins come from legumes, nuts and whole grains.
The release of the Harvard study comes at the same time as the Worldwide Week for the Abolition of Meat. For details on this event, read what Care2 blogger Megan Drake has to say on the subject.
Read more: animal welfare, harvard study animal protein, health, vegetarian diet
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+ add your ownSound Sense!!!
It has little to do with the Atkins way of eating itself - particularly since I do not use
processed low-carb products like bars, cereal, chocolate, etc., on a daily basis. (I bake
my own low-carb desserts on the weekends, but the remainder of my day-to-day menu is
strictly whole foods to maintain my results.) Please bear in mind that the Atkins
company, formed in 1989, thrived until Dr. Robert Atkins' untimely April 2003 death. It is
my personal belief that those who took over the company, made low-carb snacks and
products a chief focus, and made major changes to the very foundation of the Dr. Atkins-
created program, are responsible for this unfortunate financial trouble. A few months
after Dr. Atkins' death, the Group (Atkins Nutritionals) was sold for a reported half a
billion dollars, and almost immediately the rules shifted of the Atkins program, revamped
through the Atkins website and via the new Atkins Essentials book. The group namely
modified Atkins' first phase of Induction, because for the first time since the '70's, low-
carb chocolate, low-carb cereals, low-carb bars, and even nuts became permissible during
this 2-week period - items absolutely not permitted and not on this finite list of
allowable foods. That said, since 2002, misinformed individuals have and continue to
give a go at what they think is Atkins, then therefore focus daily on the aforementioned
processed low-carb snacks instead of real, whole food as outlined in
Vegetarian and Vegan diets .can be healthier than meat diets, but meat diets can also be healthy. The problem with a diet like the Atkins diet is .. it pretty much tells you fat is OK, but carbs are BAD.
I am a vegetarian and have been for about 11 years now. But, my entire family eats meat. My mother went on Atkins and was told she could eat sausages (high fat, high cholesterol), steak (red meat to raise the blood pressure), other actually really bad for you foods but was told to avoid carb-containing foods like broccoli. Huh.
I told her the diet was bad and not at all healthy. She didn't stick with it very long. But this study of course is true... Atkins is a TERRIBLE diet!
If you moderate your carbs and meat you can be healthy. I of course applaud anyone who does without meat, but it is a personal choice each person has to make on their own. :)
I'm a vegetarian and have been for over 10 years now but even as a vegetarian, I know how easy it is to carb out due to processed products and the all too infamous bakery department. It's all about balanced eating and taking time to get in some physical activity every now and then.
I believe its all about moderation. If people ate smaller portions and exercised more, these rates of cancer and heart disease would fall. Yes, I am a vegetarian, but I am not going to preach to people what they should do. Its a self awareness issue, so therefore no one has the right to admonish others for not having the same ideals.
Go Vegan! =)
Pepe abuse on meat consuming.I became ovo-lacto vegetarian three years ago and I do not miss meat.
Everything in balance.
We just eat less meat.
A vegan diet works best for me...but I know its not for everyone.
I love veggies & occasional white meat like Chicken & fish.
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