New Study: Low-carb beats low-fat diets!

Whoo-hoo! A new study just came out about how low-carb diets not only helped people lose weight (almost twice as much weight as the low-fat group), but it also improves cholesterol levels (increasing HDL, the "good" cholesterol, thus favorably improving cholesterol/HDL ratio) and triglycerides. Click here for the CNN article.

In addition, this study is published in the peer-reviewed New England Journal of Medicine (click here for the article). This is a huge journal that has a rigorous peer-review process that helps weed out the high-school-science-fair-poster-presentations (of which the media loves to report on) and the scientifically valid research studies.

While this study is not without its flaws (researchers slowly increased the carb level in the low-carb group from Atkins appropriate 20 gram to 120 grams which is hardly considered low-carb), it does show a dramatic improvement in HDL and triglyceride levels in the low-carb group which the media can't ignore.

Yeah for steak!

Cholesterol - the villian that it's not

A few months ago, I had my regular eye exam. During the exam the doctor was peering into my pupils and said, "Huh, do you have a family history of high cholesterol?" Uh, no. Last time I checked, my cholesterol numbers were normal...however, that was a few years ago. Apparently, the doctor could see cholesterol "deposits" in my eyeballs which is frequently due to high cholesterol levels in the blood. I was shocked! I've been doing this low-carb diet for several months which is supposed to decrease your total cholesterol levels (if elevated to begin with), raise the "good" cholesterol, as well as reduce triglycerides (which is more indicative of heart disease than cholesterol). For a split second, I questioned the healthfulness of this diet. But then I decided to do some detective work with my trusty assistant: Google. As it turns out the act of breastfeeding itself raises one's cholesterol levels. Sometimes to very high levels like 300 or above! (~200 is "normal") Huh, who knew? Doctors will often discourage lactating moms from getting cholesterol levels checked during this time. The "good" cholesterol (HDL) is especially elevated making this phenomenon beneficial to both momma and baby.
Some people are just TERRIFIED of cholesterol. Cholesterol is a nutrient, not an anti-nutrient like white sugar. Babies need cholesterol for proper brain development, just to name one. So, why would something so essential for a baby be villianized in the same way as man-made artificial trans-fats? How can something so critical for growing children suddenly become the anti-christ once you are an adult?
As I've said above, cholesterol is not an indicator of heart disease. Your triglyceride/HDL ratio are much more important. And a low-carb diet favorably influences this ratio.