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A group of researchers affiliated with Harvard University looked at whether low carbohydrate diets such as the Atkins diet had any effect on a person’s risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. They made use of information gathered through the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, which included over 40,000 men who did not have Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, heart disease or cancer at the start of the study, which began in 1986. Every other year the participants responded to a health and lifestyle survey, along with a food frequency questionnaire which allowed the researchers to assess the subjects’ usual diets.
After 20 years of follow-up (ending in late 2006), the researchers looked at the participants’ dietary information and identified those persons whose diets would be considered “low-carbohydrate diets.” Those persons’ diets were then further broken out into three different varieties of low-carbohydrate diets based on a “low-carbohydrate diet score” that ranged from zero (higher carbs, lower protein and fats) to 30 (lower carbs, higher proteins and fats):
- Low-carbohydrate, high total protein and high total fat
- Low-carbohydrate, high animal protein and high animal fat
- Low-carbohydrate, high vegetable protein and high vegetable fat
The researchers then compared the diets of those who developed Type 2 diabetes with those who did not. They found that those following diets high in animal protein that included red and processed meats and a high percentage of animal fat (as opposed to fats from vegetable sources) were almost 75 percent more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than those who followed a more moderate diet. The risk was highest in those men who were also obese.
Those who ate a diet that was low in carbohydrates but high in vegetable proteins and fats were not found to have a higher risk of Type 2 diabetes. That combination appeared to be protective for those men under the age of 65, but that effect was lost in those who were older. That group also weighed less than their low-carb/high animal protein counterparts. Not much less, however, with the difference only being a body mass index of 25.5 (high vegetable protein and fat group) versus 26.3 (high animal protein and fat group).A group of researchers affiliated with Harvard University looked at whether low carbohydrate diets such as the Atkins diet had any effect on a person’s risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. They made use of information gathered through the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, which included over 40,000 men who did not have Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, heart disease or cancer at the start of the study, which began in 1986. Every other year the participants responded to a health and lifestyle survey, along with a food frequency questionnaire which allowed the researchers to assess the subjects’ usual diets.
After 20 years of follow-up (ending in late 2006), the researchers looked at the participants’ dietary information and identified those persons whose diets would be considered “low-carbohydrate diets.” Those persons’ diets were then further broken out into three different varieties of low-carbohydrate diets based on a “low-carbohydrate diet score” that ranged from zero (higher carbs, lower protein and fats) to 30 (lower carbs, higher proteins and fats):
- Low-carbohydrate, high total protein and high total fat
- Low-carbohydrate, high animal protein and high animal fat
- Low-carbohydrate, high vegetable protein and high vegetable fat
The researchers then compared the diets of those who developed Type 2 diabetes with those who did not. They found that those following diets high in animal protein that included red and processed meats and a high percentage of animal fat (as opposed to fats from vegetable sources) were almost 75 percent more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than those who followed a more moderate diet. The risk was highest in those men who were also obese.
Those who ate a diet that was low in carbohydrates but high in vegetable proteins and fats were not found to have a higher risk of Type 2 diabetes. That combination appeared to be protective for those men under the age of 65, but that effect was lost in those who were older. That group also weighed less than their low-carb/high animal protein counterparts. Not much less, however, with the difference only being a body mass index of 25.5 (high vegetable protein and fat group) versus 26.3 (high animal protein and fat group).
