TomE wrote:
But Joel Furhman has a diet that is higher in fat, higher is protein, and much lower in non-fiber carbs. A defense of this kind of diet as being superior to the low fat vegeterian type was posted by Furhman.
Here's the crux from that article:
"Though the low-fat vegetarian diet did lower LDL cholesterol 16%, it raised triglycerides 18.7% and the LDL/HDL ratio remained unchanged, reflecting minimal overall improvement.
The low fat diet used in the study referred to is not the one I recommend that has been documented in dozens of studies to lower TGs, LDL, TC around 25-30%.
The ones referenced in the article that raise triglycerides are using refined carbs that are low in fiber and higher in calorie density. These two articles written by a colleague clearly explain these experiments and why the criticism in not applicable to a McDougall style low fat diet.
http://www.foodandhealth.com/cpecourses/medit.phphttp://www.foodandhealth.com/cpecourses/stanford.phpTomE wrote:The Eat To Live approach differed in that the LDL cholesterol was more significantly lowered without unfavorable impact on HDL or triglycerides, reflecting sizable improvement in cardiac risk factors."
citation:
Jenkins DJ, Kendall CW, Popovich DG, et al. Effect of a very-high-fiber vegetable, fruit and nut diet on serum lipids and colonic function. Metabolism 2001 Apr;50(4):494-503.
Please respond to Furhman's argument.
The citation above is about an experiment done to recreate a gorilla type diet in humans, It was all raw fruits, veggies and some nuts and seeds. The diet has been used in 2 very short-term studies. It was not and is not the Eat To Live (ETL) diet and studies on the actual ETL diet have failed to produce similar results.
http://www.drmcdougall.com/forums/viewt ... 0&#p282170On the ETL diet...
- In regard to cholesterol, there was a drop of 196 to 185 in the first 6 months, but no further change over the next 18 months. Same with LDL, it dropped from 122 to 108 but never went lower. And, we see it actually went up from 108 to 118 at 12 months and 18 months and then dropped again to 107 at 24 months. Under 100 is what is recommended for LDL and under 70, is considered ideal. Overall total change in cholesterol went from 196 down to 183 which is a drop of 13 points over 2 years, which is about a 6.6% change. This is a modest benefit at best. The overall drop in LDL was 12%, which is good but as we see, it could be better.
- Triglycerides fell from 154 to 129 (16%) in 6 months but both numbers are considered good as anything under 150 is considered ideal. However, the TG's were trending up as they were higher at 2 years than at 6 months.
On the Gorilla Diet...
The Jenkins gorilla diet was about 30% calories from fat comprised of raw fruits, vegetables and nuts. It lowered total cholesterol about 21% and LDL about 30%.
You are welcome to follow such a diet if you would like, but the studies were only on 10 people and they only were on the "gorilla" diet for 2 weeks.
Here are the "2" studies...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/9160820http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/11288049/A similar diet was also used for a 12 day experiment, though never published, that the BBC reported on. Cholesterol levels dropped around 20% in 12 days.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6248975.stm Dr Jenkins found the gorilla diet
unrealistic and unsustainable so he created The Portfolio Diet, which is also well studied, which picked out certain components of the gorilla diet that he thought would be most effective. So, he took a typical American diet, cleaned it up somewhat to a healthier version, and added in 4 things that he identified in the gorilla diet as being beneficial 1) focus on foods high in soluble fiber including the use of supplemental soluble fiber (metamucil), 2) supplemental plant sterols (benecol or Cholest-off) 3) vegetarian - so used soy protein sources instead of animal protein 4) 1 oz of nuts a day (almonds as they sponsored the studies).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/16522904/http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/15699225/http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/25326876/http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/21862744/The diet lowered LDL and TC
around 30%, almost the same as the original gorilla diet. This is very famous and well known and called The Portfolio Diet. Jenkins figured since he couldn't get people to follow the gorilla diet, if they just would eat healthier and add in these 4 things, they can reduce their risks dramatically and virtually the same as the gorilla diet. This is why benecol and metamucil become so popular, We also know that the metamucil alone will lower cholesterol around 7% and the plant sterols will lower it around 10-14% so together that is almost 17-21%. So those 2 alone, with getting rid of all the animal foods, probably accounted for most of the effect. Clean up the American diet somewhat and add in a few known effective supplements and it is an improvement.
The Pritikin Program has documented the "average" drop in almost 5K subjects in total & LDL cholesterol is 23% and they were able to maintain it for over 18 months. Triglycerides also went down 33%. They have replicated this many times on dozens of studies over several decades.
Barnard, R.J. Effects of life style modification on serum lipids. Arch Int Med, 151:1389-1394,1991.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2064490/You are welcome to follow The Portfolio Diet as it is healthier than the typical American diet but it is still not as good as the one recommended here. If you read the above linked articles (which are used for Continuing eduction and well referenced), you will see why.
In Health
Jeff
Last edited by JeffN on Mon Apr 21, 2008 8:32 pm, edited 2 times in total.