Low-carb diets are all the rage in the health world right now, but are they good for you? Those attempting the keto diet are reducing carbohydrate intake and increasing their protein and fat consumption. The keto diet (or any low-carb diet) may reap of benefits, such as weight loss, but decreasing your carb intake may harm your health more in the long term.
Firstly, scientists warn that the statement “low-carb diets may not be healthy in the long run” doesn’t mean you should happily indulge refined carbohydrates like white bread, pasta, and cookies. Researchers claim that we should continue to consume carbs that are high in fibre like - whole grains, quinoa, black beans, and fruit.
When you eliminate carbs from your diet, you are also decreasing your fibre intake, which is essential when it comes to digestion, it also helps with weight balance and regulating blood sugar levels. Despina Hyde, a dietician, adds on to the long-list of fibre benefits, “Carbohydrates are the only source we have of fiber, and fiber is great for reducing the risk of breast cancer, lowering our cholesterol and making us feel full for longer.” The group of scientists looking into the discrepancy between low-carb diets and ones that include carbohydrates appear to agree that dropping one of the recommended nutritional groups may hurt your overall wellbeing.
The study that analysed the detrimental effects a low-carb diet may have on the body looked at health data among 25,000 people between the years 1999-2010. The results confirmed their beliefs that a low-carb diet might not be the best option for humans - people who ate a low amount of carbs had an increased chance of dying or perishing from vascular disease by 50%, and their chances of suffering from cancer propelled to 36%.
The researchers looked into seven other studies that focused on the drawbacks of a low-carb diet. In the end, the results proved to be more realistic but still maintained the notion that consuming carbs may be better for your health than eating little or none at all.
The link between regulating your carb intake and health benefits is still a little unclear, but when people opt to ingest fewer carbs, they may automatically increase their meat or dairy intake, which has its disadvantages - processed meat is reportedly connected to cancer, whereas red meat may have a correlation with colon cancer and prostate cancer.
Maciej Banach, one of the co-authors, claims, “All-natural nutrients from the everyday diet are important.” He continues, “Therefore all interventions aimed to restrictedly limit one of them might be harmful for our health.”
If you are looking to include more carbohydrates in your diet and less meat, just remember that the word ‘carb’ doesn’t necessarily mean unhealthy nutritional foods like white bread, cookies, and cake, but foods like quinoa, oats, bananas, blueberries, sweet potatoes, legumes and beetroots.