Niki Bezzant: The truth about diets?

COMMENT:

Sometimes there is a big difference between how nutrition research is reported and what it actually shows.

The cover of a recent study on high carbohydrate diets compared to low carbohydrate diets included headlines such as "Why Keto Diet Could Ruin Your Gut" and "Diets High in Fat Hurts Useful Insects That Affect Find there ".

Just reading these titles does not tell the whole story.

This was a trial comparing three different diets in healthy people in China. One group received a high-fat diet consisting of 40% fat and 46% carbohydrate; one group had a moderately fat diet consisting of 30% fat and 56% carbohydrate; and another low fat diet consisting of 20% fat and 66% carbohydrates.

The three diets included 14% protein. Participants received their food and, as they are the most consumed foods and carbohydrate oils in China, the sources of carbohydrate were white rice and wheat flour and the fat came from soybean oil.

In big eaters, there were changes in intestinal bacteria – fewer beneficial bacteria and more types associated with high cholesterol and inflammation.

This suggests that in countries where people switch from a traditional low-fat diet to a westernized diet with more fat, there could be adverse health effects. This seems to have been the goal of the research: to study how changes in the composition of the diet could affect the intestine and thus health in general.

But this test did not compare a healthy diet to an unhealthy diet. He did not compare healthy diets with each other, either. And it was not a question of comparing people who follow a popular low-carb diet to those who eat according to traditional guidelines for healthy eating.

I do not think that an expert in nutrition would consider that a diet consisting mainly of white rice, wheat flour and soybean oil is healthy. (I'm sure they've also eaten other foods, but we can assume that there are not many plants, since the three diets only contain 14% fiber ).

These high levels of fat, carbohydrate and protein do not really look like the recommendations of low carbohydrate plan sponsors. they are more related to Western dietary habits, with the exception of protein, which is weak by all means.

It should be noted that people who follow a keto diet are more likely to consume more than 70% of energy from fat and perhaps as little as 5% of carbohydrates. So, this essay does not prove that keto-bashing title.

Until now, there is very little research to demonstrate the advantages or disadvantages of a keto-type long-term diet. People on both sides of this philosophical break may indicate studies supporting their arguments.

This particular research – although suggesting additional research on the effects on the health of the intestine is warranted – does not help much in this debate. Perhaps the main thing we can learn here is not to take these headlines to the letter.

• Niki Bezzant is the editor-in-chief of the Healthy Food Guide www.healthyfood.co.nz