Carbohydrate Intake and Mortality

Orange County, CA - August 22nd, 2018 -  A new study was published in the journal of The Lancet Public Health on Friday. It evaluated the diets of more than 15,000 middle-aged Americans over the course of 25 years. Researchers found that participants who partook in either a low-carb diet or a high-carb diet increased the risk of an early death.

However, not all low-carb diets are equivalent. People who ate protein and fats from plant-based foods such as whole grains, avocados, legumes, and nuts, had a lower mortality risk than those who ate a lot of meat and fats, instead of carbohydrates.

“Low-carb diets that replace carbohydrates with protein or fat are gaining widespread popularity as a health and weight loss strategy. However, our data suggests that animal-based low-carbohydrate diets, which are prevalent in North America and Europe, might be associated with shorter overall lifespan and should be discouraged. Instead, if one chooses to follow a low-carbohydrate diet, then exchanging carbohydrates for more plant-based fats and proteins might actually promote healthy aging in the long term,”  said lead author Sara Seidelmann, a researcher at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

The team looked over the medical history of each participant that spread across four locations in the United States. They filled out detailed questionnaires on their eating habits on two occasions that were six years apart. The results were combined with seven other observational studies, which were carried out across the world, involving a total of more than 430,000 people. Researchers found that participants that ate a moderate carb diet with half of their energy coming from carbohydrates, had a longer life expectancy of 33 years; the results were four years longer than those on low-carb diets, and one year longer than those who ate a high-carb diet.