High Fat Low Carb
A war has been going on for decades between two passionate classes of humans and an end seems nowhere in sight. Meat lovers and vegetarians have been arguing for years about whose lifestyle is healthier. Recently the meat lovers have gained new ammunition with the high fat low carb trend.
Two well-known publications advocating for this new diet trend are the documentary “Fat Head” and the book “Brain Grain”. In the documentary “Fat Head” comedian Tom Naugthon refutes the claims made in the famous “Super Size Me” documentary. “Brain Grain” is neurologist David Perlmutter book on why carbs, all carbs, are bad. Both of which make two strong claims that fat are good and carbs are bad.
“Fat Head” focuses on the claim is that cholesterol is good for us, and actually necessary. High cholesterol is one of the vegetarian’s biggest claims to why meat is bad. High cholesterol has been attributed to harmful health conditions, specifically to the heart. However, Naugthon claims that there have been no studies that prove that saturated fat cause heart disease and that half of all heart attacks occur in people with low cholesterol. Naugthon also claims that the standards for what is “high cholesterol” is based on nothing and simply benefit pharmaceutical companies that develop drugs for high cholesterol. He even states that the drugs prescribed for high cholesterol (statin’s) are actually very harmful.
“Brain Grain” focuses on the claim that the brain is negatively affected by high carb diets and the body needs cholesterol. Naugthon also supports this claim stating that ADD has been treated through the introduction of natural saturated fats. Perlmutter takes this one step further by stating that increased carb consumption increases chances to develop Alzheimer’s and other brain malfunctions. Perlmutter even states that the “human requirement for dietary carbs is none”.
So how true are these claims? The national institute of health states “high blood cholesterol is one of the major risk factors for heart disease”. However, there has been evidence lately that saturated fat is not linked to your risks for heart disease. A quick search of the side effects of satins produces a long list of unwanted effects including the increase in HbA1c glucose levels seen in diabetes! So are carbs really so bad for you? A report by the Harvard School of Public Health stated that after a “large meta-analysis of 24 prospective cohort studies, researchers concluded that people who consumed lower-glycemic load diets were at a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes than those who ate a diet of higher-glycemic load foods. A similar type of meta-analysis concluded that higher-glycemic load diets were also associated with an increased risk for coronary heart disease events“. While both “Fat Head” and “Brain Grain” took very drastic stands on the opinion of fats and carbs, there seems to be some truth behind it.
Although there are plenty of apps/tools that help manage what you eat and count calories, there are not many that try to balance your food intake based on this information. This could be a possible space to develop applications in.
Sources:
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-24625808
http://www.fathead-movie.com/index.php/no-bologna-facts/
http://www.medicinenet.com/statins/page2.htm#side effects
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/carbohydrates/carbohydrates-and-blood-sugar/