1. Plant Foods, Fibre, Fat and Breast Cancer New research in the British Journal of Cancer found that a high fibre and low fat diet is associated with a 40% reduced risk of postmenopausal breast cancer - the most common cancer in women worldwide.
2. Low-Carb Diets Make You 'Sick' The reason low-carb dieters often lose weight and sometimes show improvements in their cholesterol, blood sugars and blood pressures is because they are, in essence, 'sickened' by the diet.
3. Cereal Fibre Best for Heart Health A Harvard University study has found that for every extra 10 grams of total fibre consumed in a day, there is a 14 per cent decrease in risk for coronary heart disease and a 27 per cent decreased risk of dying from coronary heart disease. The greatest correlation was found between cereal fibre and heart disease incidence and mortality.
4. Quick Tip: Getting more grains for a healthy heart In Australia , consumption of grain-based foods remains below recommended levels. Many people, especially women, do not eat the minimum recommended 4 serves of 'breads and cereals' each day. So how can you increase your grains intake for heart health?
Vic Government Takes Aim at Low-Carb Diets The Australian Medical Association (AMA) has come out in support of a public education campaign warning people of the dangers inherent in low-carbohydrate, high-fat diets.
Wholegrains Reduce Risk of Metabolic Syndrome Eating more wholegrain foods could help people reduce their chances of developing metabolic syndrome, according to researchers analysing the role of carbohydrates on insulin resistance and the prevalence of the metabolic (insulin resistance) syndrome.
Plant Foods, Fibre and Rectal Cancer US researchers have discovered some important links during an investigation into the associations between colon and rectal cancer and intakes of vegetables, other plant foods and fibre.
New Design for US Food Pyramid In an effort to help curb the rising obesity rates, US health officials are planning to revise the Food Guide Pyramid in 2005. The changes are designed to help Americans improve their nutritional health by adding more fruits, vegetables and wholegrains to the foundation of the pyramid.
New research in the British Journal of Cancer found that a high fibre and low fat diet is associated with a 40% reduced risk of postmenopausal breast cancer - the most common cancer in women worldwide.
The same association was not found with fruit and vegetable consumption.
The authors point out that several biological processes associated with diet might be relevant to the development of breast cancer. However, much of the previous research on breast cancer and diet has focused on the total fat intake and disease risk, and the results from different studies have been conflicting.
Plant foods have attracted less interest, although they are sources of several compounds that might be of importance in breast cancer development. These compounds include vitamins (such as ascorbic acid, folic acid and vitamin E), fibre and various phytochemicals (such as flavonoids, phyto-oestrogens, and carotenoids). The phyto-oestrogens especially seem to have the potential to influence breast cancer risk.
The aims of this current study were to examine whether plant foods and fibre intakes are associated with breast cancer risk, and whether these associations are influenced by fat intake.
The research team, from the Malmo University Hospital in Sweden , examined a subsample of nearly 12,000 postmenopausal women in the Malmo Diet and Cancer cohort. They collected data from interviews for diet history, questionnaires, anthropometrical measurements and national and regional cancer registries.
The authors concluded that the lowest risk came from a combination high fibre and low fat diet: " We found that high fibre intakes were associated with a significant 40% reduction in breast cancer risk".
Although the same association was not found for intakes of fruit and vegetables, the authors point out that the low intake levels of fruit and vegetables in their study population may have contributed to this outcome.
The reason low-carb dieters often lose weight and sometimes show improvements in their cholesterol, blood sugars and blood pressures is because they are, in essence, 'sickened' by the diet.
Dr John McDougall, an advisory board member of the US-based Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, reports his findings in the March edition of the Mayo Clinic Proceedings in the US .
Dr McDougall says low-carb diets can result in a metabolic state called ' ketosis ' that also occurs during severe illness. The symptoms of the condition resemble the common side effects of cancer chemotherapy such as fatigue, nausea and a loss of appetite.
People on low-carb diets who become ill enough to experience loss of appetite are taking in less fat and cholesterol, since they are consuming less food overall. It is this same mechanism that results in cholesterol levels falling in cancer patients, Dr McDougall says.
Although many suspect the low-carb Atkins diet is merely a fad, the diet has stolen sales from other weight management products in North America and there is rapid development of 'low-carb' brands in the US, and now also in the UK.
However, nutritionists and medical experts continue to debate the health aspects of the diet, with many citing evidence to show that high-fat, low-carbohydrate dieters risk clogged arteries, heart attack, colon cancer and kidney failure.
Dr McDougall said studies also show that even one fatty meal can increase the risk of a cardiac event immediately following the meal.
"A better approach is to encourage people to eat foods that promote both ideal body weight and health--those from a high-complex carbohydrate, low-fat diet," Dr McDougall said.
"For example, people living mostly on high-carbohydrate rice and vegetable dishes in Asia are trim throughout their lives with almost no risk of heart disease, diabetes or our common cancers," he said.
A Harvard University study has found that for every extra 10 grams of total fibre consumed in a day, there is a 14 per cent decrease in risk for coronary heart disease and a 27 per cent decreased risk of dying from coronary heart disease.
The greatest correlation was found between cereal fibre and heart disease incidence and mortality.
Few epidemiologic studies of dietary fibre intake and risk of coronary heart disease have compared fibre types (cereal, fruit, and vegetable) or included sex-specific results. The purpose of this study was to conduct a pooled analysis of dietary fibre and its subtypes and risk of coronary heart disease.
The authors analysed the pooled results of several studies from the US and Europe , including over 90,000 men and 245,000 women, to determine whether the source of dietary fibre from fruit, vegetables or grains had any effect on the reduction of heart disease risk.
The results suggest that dietary fibre intake during adulthood has a strong protective effect against coronary heart disease, with the risk being 10 to 30 per cent lower for each 10 grams per day increment of total, cereal or fruit fibre.
In contrast, vegetable fibre was not associated with coronary heart disease incidence or mortality.
The researchers found that associations were strongest for coronary deaths, " with reductions in risk of 25 per cent for cereal fibre and 30 per cent for fruit fibre for each 10 gram per day increment".
Vegetables do offer a host of other nutrients aside from fibre, including vitamins and minerals, and the study's authors conclude that, " recommendations to consume a diet that includes an abundance of fibre-rich foods to prevent CHD are based on a wealth of consistent scientific evidence ".
4. Quick tip: More grains for a healthy heart (back to contents)
In Australia , consumption of grain-based foods remains below recommended levels. Many people, especially women, do not eat the minimum recommended 4 serves of 'breads and cereals' each day. So how can you increase your grains intake for heart health?
The Australian Guide to Healthy Eating (1998) recommends that a healthy diet for adults should include at least 4 serves of grain-based foods every day.
One serve equals:
2 slices of bread
1 cup of cooked rice/pasta/noodles
1 cup of cooked porridge
1 1/3cups flaked breakfast cereal
At least half of these serves should be wholegrains because of the protective components they contain (such as fibre, antioxidents and phytoestrogens).
For more information, check out these helpful resources:
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) has come out in support of a public education campaign in Victoria warning people of the dangers inherent in low-carbohydrate, high-fat diets.
AMA federal president Dr Bill Glasson said other States should follow the lead of Victoria in alerting people about the potential harm dieting regimes such as the Atkins diet could cause.
According to media reports, the Victorian government has launched a State-wide campaign aimed at convincing people to give up the high-protein, low-carbohydrate Atkins diet and other unhealthy fad diets. The Victorian government is planning to give out posters and information booklets at gymnasiums, doctors' waiting rooms and university campuses.
Dr Glasson and the AMA are firmly behind the move by the Victorian government, and would support any other State governments who follow suit, because the effectiveness and safety of such diets cannot be substantiated.
New York doctor Robert Atkins pioneered his controversial diet more than 30 years ago. He died last April, aged 72, after slipping and falling on ice as he walked to work.
Wholegrains reduce risk of metabolic syndrome (back to contents)
Eating more wholegrain foods could help people reduce their chances of developing metabolic syndrome, say researchers, analysing the role of carbohydrates on insulin resistance and the prevalence of the metabolic (insulin resistance) syndrome.
Metabolic syndrome is a condition that's strongly linked with both cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes. The most common features of the syndrome include obesity around the belly, low levels of HDL cholesterol, high triglyceride levels and high blood pressure.
Researchers from the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota analysed data from nearly 3,000 subjects to evaluate whether children of parents with metabolic syndrome had a greater insulin resistance and unfavourable patterns of cardiovascular disease risk factors.
They found that intakes of total dietary fibre, cereal fibre, fruit fibre and wholegrains were inversely associated with insulin resistance.
The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was significantly lower in those who ate the most cereal fibre and wholegrain compared with those who ate the least.
The researchers concluded that the " recommendation to increase wholegrain intake may reduce the risk of developing the metabolic syndrome".
Researchers from the Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Centre in the US have compared the effects of a wholegrain diet, containing soluble and insoluble fibres, on blood pressure.
Twenty-one non-hypertensive men with raised blood cholesterol levels were selected for the study. The men ate a Step 1 diet for two weeks, and then ate diets with brown rice, whole wheat, barley, or a combination of the three grains, for five weeks.
The study found that systolic, diastolic and mean arterial blood pressures did not change during the Step 1 diet. However, these blood pressure measures were reduced by wholegrains regardless whether the fibre was mostly soluble (barley) or insoluble (brown rice and whole wheat).
The authors concluded that increasing wholegrain foods in a healthy diet can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
US researchers have discovered some important links during an investigation into the associations between rectal cancer and intakes of vegetables, other plant foods and fibre. The study suggests that high intakes could cut the risk by up to one third with wholegrain foods being a particularly strong anti-cancer agent.
A team from the Health Research Centre at the University of Utah compared data from 952 cases of rectal cancer with data from 1,205 population-based controls.
Rectal cancer was inversely associated with intakes of vegetables, fruit and wholegrain products. Similarly, high intakes of dietary fibre (more than 34g per day) reduced the risk of rectal cancer by 66% when compared with low fibre intakes.
More than 3 serves a day of wholegrain foods was associated with a 31% reduced risk of rectal cancer while at least five servings of vegetables per day were required before a reduced risk of rectal cancer could be seen.
In an effort to help curb the rising obesity rates, US health officials are planning to revise the Food Guide Pyramid in 2005. The changes are designed to help Americans improve their nutritional health by adding more wholegrains to the foundation of the pyramid.
A report released by the US Department of Agriculture regarding the revision states the original pyramid's purpose was as "an educational tool to help American s select healthful diets".
The current pyramid consists of six food groups. Bread, cereal, rice and pasta make up the foundation of the pyramid, with a suggested six to 11 servings a day. Fats, oils and sweets make up the tip of the pyramid with the suggestion that people consumer foods from that group sparingly.
Recommended changes include a clarification and standardisation of exactly what constitutes a single serving, a shift in the recommended number of servings in various layers of the pyramid, and an increased focus on wholegrain foods in the bottom (eat most) group of the pyramid.
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