The secret to living long, fighting cardiovascular diseases and those related to metabolic syndrome, such as diabetes? A high-carbohydrate, lower-protein diet! A new study conducted on mice would establish this, which would have reached the same results, in terms of health benefits, of the low-calorie diet, in particular on body weight, metabolism and less development of diseases. Previous studies had indeed established that a low-calorie diet(i.e. with 40 percent fewer daily calories) was the answer to better fitness and health: with many negative consequences, however. Risk of lower bone density and ostroporosis, slowed metabolism in the long term, reduction of lean mass were just some of the contraindications of a low-calorie diet as a lifestyle choice. The alternative? We can live longer by eating our fill, but with an eye towards the correct distribution of macronutrients: put simply, according to the researchers, we should eat more carbohydrates and less protein (considering that some of the proteins we get from the foods they contain carbohydrates). But which carbohydrates to prefer? And why would a low-protein, high-carbohydrate diet lead to weight loss?
Let’s start with carbohydrates: the researchers of the University of Sydney, led by Professor Stephen Simpson, they would have found that mice who ate a high-carbohydrate, low-protein diet had a better metabolism: by carbohydrates we mean whole grains and potatoes, vegetables and fruits. No white rice or white pasta. These findings are in line with the results obtained from the Mediterranean diet, which predicts a high consumption of carbohydrates, a normal consumption of fat and a minimum consumption of protein. In this way the metabolism would remain high and the lean mass would not be reduced, to the benefit of health, while on the contrary too many proteins would cause an increase in metabolism only in the first term, but in the long run they would poison the organism. Many Aboriginal tribes also have a diet with a high consumption of carbohydrates: being whole (cereals, legumes, plants), none of these tribes have had loss of lean mass and development of diseases such as diabetes and hypercholesterolemia. Same thing for the Asian populations.
Is eating lots of whole grains, fruits and vegetables really the winning choice?