Study Suggests 'Glycemic Index' Diet
Study Suggests Diet Favoring 'Good' Over 'Bad' Carbohydrates Is Better
for the Heart
The Associated Press
Nov. 23, 2004 - A diet favoring "good" over "bad" carbohydrates is
better for the heart and less likely to slow down metabolism than a
conventional low-fat diet, a small, preliminary study suggests.

The "glycemic index" diet recommends carbohydrates that do not cause a
sharp rise in blood sugar levels after meals, such as old-fashioned
oatmeal rather than highly processed sugared breakfast cereal. It is
not as anti-carb as Atkins-style regimens, nor as fat-restrictive as
standard low-fat diets.

Proponents call it a happy medium, though skeptics say the science
including the new study doesn't prove that low-glycemic diets are
superior.

The study involved 39 overweight people ages 18 to 40 who were paid
$1,500 to eat hospital-prepared diets for about 10 weeks. Low-glycemic
foods were given to 22 participants, while 17 got the low-fat option.

Participants in both groups lost an average of about 20 pounds. But
glycemic-index dieters fared better on two risk factors for heart
disease: They had a slight decrease in fats in the blood called
triglycerides, versus an increase in the low-fat group, and they had a
much greater reduction in levels of an inflammation-related substance
called C-reactive protein.

The number of calories burned while resting decreased in both groups a
metabolism slowdown that commonly occurs while dieting. But the
average decrease was smaller in the low-glycemic group 96 calories per
day versus 176 in the low-fat group. Hunger pangs were less common
among low-glycemic dieters.

The study's leader, Dr. David Ludwig, director of an obesity program
at Boston's Children's Hospital, said that because of those
differences, people on the low-glycemic regimen are more likely to
stay on their diet and less likely to put the weight back on. But he
said longer studies are needed to show if that is true.

The study appears in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical
Association.

Dr. Robert Eckel, an American Heart Association spokesman, called the
results "underwhelming."

Participants' triglyceride and CRP levels already were in a healthful
range when the study began, and there is no evidence that decreasing
them further would be more beneficial, Eckel said. Also, he said, if
the metabolism changes had been meaningful, the glycemic-index dieters
should have lost more weight than the other group.

Both diets involved 1,500 calories per day, but they differed in
nutrient content.

In the low-fat diet, 65 percent of calories came from carbohydrates,
including foods like instant oatmeal, raisins and tortilla chips all
with a relatively high glycemic index.

In the glycemic index diet, 43 percent of daily calories came from
carbs and they included steel-cut oatmeal, blueberries and peanuts all
more slowly broken down into sugar than foods in the low-fat diet.

In the low-fat diet, 18 percent of calories came from fat. In glycemic
index diet, 30 percent came from fat the limit recommended by U.S.
government dietary guidelines and many nutritionists.

*******

A critic:

Dr. Robert Eckel, an American Heart Association spokesman, called the
results "underwhelming."

Robert H. Eckel, M.D., Division of Endocrinology, Health Sciences
Center, University of Colorado. Research on the "effect of medium
chain triglycerides on glucose and lipid metabolism in type II
diabetes melitus" was supported by Procter and Gamble. Research on
"the effect of leptin on postprandial lipid metabolism" was supported
by Amgen. (Undated resume on file at CSPI; accessed 6/18/02)

http://www.cspinet.org/integrity/nonprofits/american_heart_association.html

An industry shill, big surprise.

TC