In the United States, poor nutrition is the leading cause of death in the population. Researchers therefore encourage replacing saturated fat with unsaturated fat.
Everyone knows the importance of a healthy and balanced diet. Diet has been proven to affect weight, diabetes, sleep, cardiovascular disease and even mental health, although much research lacks specific information on the latter topic. In a new study published in the journal JAMA International Medicine, American researchers even declare that a bad food “is the first cause of death” in the United States.
To reach this conclusion, Dr. Zhilei Shan, of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, and his team analyzed data from more than 37,233 American adults, with an average age of 49.7 years. The data came from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), from 1999 to 2014.
During this period, the researchers noted 4,866 deaths, including 849 related to heart disease and 1,068 to cancers. Using NHAES reports of participants’ diets, they found that a healthy low-carb diet (lower amounts of low-quality carbohydrates and higher amounts of vegetable protein and unsaturated fats) and a diet healthy low-fat diet (lower amounts of saturated fat and higher amounts of high-quality carbohydrates and plant proteins) were associated with lower total mortality.
Replace saturated fats with unsaturated fats
In detail, participants “who obtained a higher overall score (low carb dirt score), indicating a lower quality diet, were more likely to be older and non-Hispanic white, to have a BMI, a level education, a higher level of income and cholesterol intake, and to have a lower total energy intake,” observe the scientists.
“Fats provide more than twice as much energy as carbohydrates and proteins by weight. A diet high in saturated fat is very appetizing and can lead to overconsumption and obesity,” they explain. And to continue: “Low-quality carbohydrates, such as refined grains and added sugars, have limited nutritional value, and their high glycemic load may be associated with high postprandial glucose and insulin levels, inflammation , insulin resistance and dyslipidemia”.
In contrast, people who scored higher on a low-fat diet most often tended not to smoke, to be leaner and to have lower cholesterol. In conclusion, “carbohydrate consumption from refined grains and added sugars has been negatively associated with health outcomes, whereas carbohydrate consumption from whole grains, non-starchy vegetables, and whole fruits appears to be beneficial,” say the researchers.
Any conflicts of interest have been declared
If in the past several studies have already been carried out on the links between diet and risk of mortality, none had yet examined specifically how diets low in carbohydrates and fats of different qualities could make a difference.
However, this study has some limitations. This is because the researchers could not identify the specific versions of each participant’s different low-carb and low-fat diets. In addition, the latter completed the questionnaires on their diet themselves. Some errors could therefore have been made. Finally, some researchers revealed possible conflicts of interest.
In the United States, nearly 40% of Americans over the age of 20 were obese in 2016 compared to 34% in 2007, according to a study published in March 2018, also in the JAMA. In France, obesity affects 17% of adults. Worldwide, according to the latest WHO estimates, 13% of the population is affected and unbalanced diets are the cause of one in five adult deaths (22%).
Because obesity is linked to many diseases, more or less serious. It is particularly associated with an increased risk of diabetes, hormonal disorders (disruption of menstrual cycles in women), respiratory disorders (sleep apnea for example), cardiovascular diseases (hypertension, atherosclerosis, etc.), liver and kidney diseases, and even cancers.
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