The Truth Behind a High-Carb Diet – Shortens Your Life?

A research conducted on more than 135,000 people across five continents discovered interesting things. Apparently, eating moderate amounts of fat plus moderate helpings of fruits and vegetables while limiting the carbohydrate intake is associated with lower risk of death.

It has been discovered that people who consumed three to four servings (375-500g) of fruits, vegetables and legumes per day registered lower risk of death.

Moreover, contrary to the beliefs, consuming a higher amount of fat was associated with a lower risk of death in comparison with lower fat intakes. Apparently, a diet that is high in carbohydrates was related to higher mortality, though not with the risk of cardiovascular disease.

The study asked the 135,000 people about their diet and watched them closely for almost 8 years in order to gather data. The study on dietary fats discovered that they were not associated with major cardiovascular disease, and that higher fat consumption (~35% of energy) was associated with lower mortality, which was noticed for all major types of fats (saturated, polyunsaturated and mono unsaturated).

Researchers also emphasized that, even though these findings might surprise most people, they are consistent with several observational studies and randomized controlled trials that were conducted in Western countries during the last two decades or so.

“A decrease in fat intake automatically led to an increase in carbohydrate consumption, and our findings may explain why certain populations such as South Asians, who do not consume much fat but consume a lot of carbohydrates, have higher mortality rates,” Dehghan, lead author of the study said

She also added that the available guidelines were developed about four decades ago using information from Western countries in which fat was more than 40%-50% of caloric intake.