Low-Fat Diets are not
as Beneficial as Thought
February 8th,
2006
|
 |
|
Fruits and
Vegetables |
|
Postmenopausal women need to do more than just cut fat from their diet
to stay healthy, according to a new study. Researchers from the Fred
Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, and colleagues with the
Women's Health Initiative (WHI) Dietary Modification Trial conducted a
very large scale study.
They followed 48,835 women for eight years and found that “a diet low in
fat, but high in fruit, vegetables and grains, does not significantly
reduce the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women.” They
examined the effect of a low-fat diet with the incidence of breast
cancer. It was thought that a low fat diet would reduce breast cancer
risk.
The WHI began in 1992 with women that had not been diagnosed with breast
cancer. About 40% of the women were asked to make dietary
modifications. These modifications included “consumption of a reduced
amount of fat (20 percent of energy) and of an increased amount of
vegetables and fruits (5 or more servings a day) and grains (6 or more
servings a day).” The other 60%of the women were not asked to make
dietary modifications.
The results showed little difference breast cancer risk. Overall, 655
(3.35 percent) women in the intervention group and 1,072 (3.66 percent)
women in the comparison group developed invasive breast cancer during
follow-up.
A previous study found that eating too much animal fat may be linked to
a higher risk of premenopausal breast cancer. This finding came from
the ongoing Nurses Health Study. So do these studies conflict?
Jacques Rossouw of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and
Women's Health Initiative project officer said that waiting until
midlife to cut the fat might be too late, as far as cancer risk is
concerned. His statement was reported in USA Today. The article also
sites a Michael Thun, vice president of epidemiology and surveillance
research at the American Cancer Society, who said the nurse’s study has
switched the focus from total dietary fat to types of fat and weight.
There are a few other articles concerning the low-fat diet in this issue
of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The other
articles seem to indicate that a low fat diet does not cut the risk of
stroke, cardiovascular disease or colorectal cancer. Each study gets
their data from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI).
According to the journal, “There was no evidence of reduced risk for any
category of colorectal cancer outcome associated with the
intervention.” The Journal also reports that the researchers found that
the diet had “no significant effects on incidence of (coronary heart
disease) CHD, stroke, (cardio vascular disease) CVD, or heart attack.”
There was little difference in levels of high-density lipoprotein
cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose and insulin between the women that
followed the low fat diet and those that did not.
There was some good news. According to the researchers there was a
trend toward greater risk reductions in CHD in those with lower intakes
of saturated fat or trans fat or higher intakes of vegetables/fruits.
The authors conclude “To achieve a significant public health impact on
CVD events, a greater magnitude of change in multiple macronutrients and
micronutrients and other behaviors that influence CVD risk factors may
be necessary."
By
Dan Wilson
Best Syndication Staff Writer
Diet Books
Keywords and misspellings: hootia tanolin hutia
hudia Acomplia
deit diet lose loose wait weight
wieght
lowe fat dieting health benifits canser risk brest cancre previntion |
RSS Feed to our Heart/Lung News
