High-Carb Diet Raises Insulin Levels Which Spikes Blood Pressure, Research Reveals
In the infamous Stanford JAMA study released in March 2007, researchers found the Atkins low-carb diet was most effective not just for weight loss, but also improvements in certain health markers--including reducing blood pressure.
Now this Reuters story about a new study confirms that a high-carb, low-fat diet indeed leads to an increase in blood pressure. The reason why will astound you!
Lead researcher Dr. Meena Shah, associate professor of clinical nutrition at the Dallas, TX-based University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and her team of researchers wanted to see if the highly-touted high-carb, low-fat Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet was the best way to treat high blood pressure.
Dr. Shah used a meta-analysis of ten intervention studies (6 randomized crossover, 1 randomized parallel, and 3 non-randomized) comparing a high-carb, low-fat diet with a low-carb, high-monounsaturated fat diet to see what impact these differences in macronutrients would have on the blood pressure. They took great pains to insure the studies they observed had participants whose weight remained stable.
What did the researchers find?
Using a random-effects model, the high-carb, low-fat diets caused "significantly higher" systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure than the low-carb, high-monounsaturated fat diets did. Even when the meta-analysis included just the randomized crossover studies, the results were similar although not as pronounced.
Despite these clear differences in blood pressure between a high-carb, low-fat diet and a low-carb, high-fat diet, Dr. Shah and her researchers just could bring themselves to push for changes in the DASH diet to include less carbohydrate.
"Diets rich in carbohydrate may be associated with slightly higher blood pressure than diets rich in monounsaturated fat," the researchers concluded. "However, the magnitude of the difference may not justify making recommendations to alter the carbohydrate and monounsaturated fat content of the diet to manage blood pressure."
Well, why the heck not?! Isn't the evidence staring you right in the face? You can bet if the low-carb diet was the one raising blood pressure that this would have been on the front page of every health publication around the world declaring how unhealthy this "extreme" and "dangerous" diet is. But this is the fully-embraced low-fat diet we're talking about here and they've got to protect it from being harmed.
The results of this study appeared in the May 2007 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
This isn't the first time Dr. Shah has published research on the impact of a high-carb diet on blood pressure. In 2005, she had a 6-week study published in the journal Diabetes Care which observed 42 Type 2 diabetics placed on either a high-carb, low-fat diet or a high-fat moderate-carb diet to see how it would impact their blood pressure.
Guess what? Blood pressure went WAY up on the high-carb, low-fat diet. Dr. Shah concluded at the time that "long-term consumption of a high-carbohydrate diet may modestly raise blood pressure in type 2 diabetic patients."
Hmmm, so the longer the exposure to a high-carb diet, the more likely that person eating such a diet will be exposed to what is commonly described as "the silent killer" known as hypertension, or high blood pressure.
Here are two damning studies against consuming the recommended high-carb, low-fat diet for blood pressure conducted by the same researcher and yet she still doesn't believe changes in the recommendations need to be made. What's wrong with this picture?
Aren't these people scientists, who based their decisions on what the data shows them over and over again? It would make perfect sense to conclude based on the evidence that eating carbohydrate in the diet in the excessive amounts that are promoted as healthy is a crazy way to try to lower your blood pressure. It's NOT gonna happen!
Dr. Shah even acknowledges the reason why blood pressure goes up in people who eat a high-carb diet is because of raised insulin levels, aka hyperinsulinemia (something low-carb researcher Dr. Jeff Volek from the University of Connecticut acknowledged as the root cause of obesity, diabetes, and other health complications at the recent American Society of Bariatric Physicians obesity conference I attended in Nashville, Tennessee).
The working theory behind increased insulin levels and blood pressure is that hyperinsulinemia strikes a chord in the central nervous system which then in turn makes the heart rate rise and other physical reactions which lead to the spike in blood pressure.
In light of this, wouldn't it seem logical to simply avoid a high-carb diet? What's wrong with making a recommendation like this to people rather than telling them to stop eating salt?
Whatever happened to just plain common sense anymore?
Now this Reuters story about a new study confirms that a high-carb, low-fat diet indeed leads to an increase in blood pressure. The reason why will astound you!
Lead researcher Dr. Meena Shah, associate professor of clinical nutrition at the Dallas, TX-based University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and her team of researchers wanted to see if the highly-touted high-carb, low-fat Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet was the best way to treat high blood pressure.
Dr. Shah used a meta-analysis of ten intervention studies (6 randomized crossover, 1 randomized parallel, and 3 non-randomized) comparing a high-carb, low-fat diet with a low-carb, high-monounsaturated fat diet to see what impact these differences in macronutrients would have on the blood pressure. They took great pains to insure the studies they observed had participants whose weight remained stable.
What did the researchers find?
Using a random-effects model, the high-carb, low-fat diets caused "significantly higher" systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure than the low-carb, high-monounsaturated fat diets did. Even when the meta-analysis included just the randomized crossover studies, the results were similar although not as pronounced.
Despite these clear differences in blood pressure between a high-carb, low-fat diet and a low-carb, high-fat diet, Dr. Shah and her researchers just could bring themselves to push for changes in the DASH diet to include less carbohydrate.
"Diets rich in carbohydrate may be associated with slightly higher blood pressure than diets rich in monounsaturated fat," the researchers concluded. "However, the magnitude of the difference may not justify making recommendations to alter the carbohydrate and monounsaturated fat content of the diet to manage blood pressure."
Well, why the heck not?! Isn't the evidence staring you right in the face? You can bet if the low-carb diet was the one raising blood pressure that this would have been on the front page of every health publication around the world declaring how unhealthy this "extreme" and "dangerous" diet is. But this is the fully-embraced low-fat diet we're talking about here and they've got to protect it from being harmed.
The results of this study appeared in the May 2007 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
This isn't the first time Dr. Shah has published research on the impact of a high-carb diet on blood pressure. In 2005, she had a 6-week study published in the journal Diabetes Care which observed 42 Type 2 diabetics placed on either a high-carb, low-fat diet or a high-fat moderate-carb diet to see how it would impact their blood pressure.
Guess what? Blood pressure went WAY up on the high-carb, low-fat diet. Dr. Shah concluded at the time that "long-term consumption of a high-carbohydrate diet may modestly raise blood pressure in type 2 diabetic patients."
Hmmm, so the longer the exposure to a high-carb diet, the more likely that person eating such a diet will be exposed to what is commonly described as "the silent killer" known as hypertension, or high blood pressure.
Here are two damning studies against consuming the recommended high-carb, low-fat diet for blood pressure conducted by the same researcher and yet she still doesn't believe changes in the recommendations need to be made. What's wrong with this picture?
Aren't these people scientists, who based their decisions on what the data shows them over and over again? It would make perfect sense to conclude based on the evidence that eating carbohydrate in the diet in the excessive amounts that are promoted as healthy is a crazy way to try to lower your blood pressure. It's NOT gonna happen!
Dr. Shah even acknowledges the reason why blood pressure goes up in people who eat a high-carb diet is because of raised insulin levels, aka hyperinsulinemia (something low-carb researcher Dr. Jeff Volek from the University of Connecticut acknowledged as the root cause of obesity, diabetes, and other health complications at the recent American Society of Bariatric Physicians obesity conference I attended in Nashville, Tennessee).
The working theory behind increased insulin levels and blood pressure is that hyperinsulinemia strikes a chord in the central nervous system which then in turn makes the heart rate rise and other physical reactions which lead to the spike in blood pressure.
In light of this, wouldn't it seem logical to simply avoid a high-carb diet? What's wrong with making a recommendation like this to people rather than telling them to stop eating salt?
Whatever happened to just plain common sense anymore?
Labels: blood pressure, DASH, diet, high-carb, high-fat, hyperinsulinemia, insulin, low-carb, low-fat, Meena Shah, research, study
posted by Jimmy Moore at
6/04/2007 05:59:00 PM
3 Comments:
They just can't admit that low carb is beneficial, even if the evidence is staring them right in the face. What will it take to make them see????
My blood pressure has dropped significantly since I was first diagnosed with diabetes. I was on medication then and still am. It might be time to talk to my doctor about getting off the blood pressure meds.
What ever happened to free inquiry and straightforward science, for that matter? The scientists are pretty much just trying to save face by distracting the public at this point. Dr. Shah probably knows how damaging it will be to her career to admit anything good about low carb, as her peers and superiors will criticize and abandon her for not being a fellow conformist. As a low-carb promoter, you must be willing to go it alone, and not many scientists have the guts or courage to do that. Even Dr. Westman is very careful and non-committal about his findings.
Well...here's my take. 1 month ago I had BP 160/110. I am a big meat eater. I ate mostly red meat for protein with a bit of veggies like lettuce in my salad. Bacon and eggs, burgers, etc. I did a complete turn around. Off the red meat and chicken completely, fish only for meat and primarily salmon. breakfast is whole grain hot cereal with walnut, blueberries, blackberries, brewers yeast, lecithin, wheat germ, flax seeds, whole grain toast with unsalted peanut butter some papaya and a banana. Lunch is a pile of steamed veggies, a slice of bread and maybe some tofu or a soy protein drink. Dinner us a pile of veggies and a piece of salmon on a bed of brown rice. Also am taking some herbs and nutritional supplements. Hawthorn, CoQ10, magnesium, calcium and potassium to name a few. I bp this morning was 115/74. Depending on the time of day, stress, etc, my bp is now ranging from 110/74 to 130/85. I'll take that over what is was ranging which was 160/110 to 150/80.
I'm still making progress and learning. I would like to think my old lifestyle of steakhouses and pub food was a healthy one but I'm afraid not. Just because something causes you to loose weight, doesn't mean it's good for you. Chemotherapy will cause you to loose weight also.
Oh by the way, I also quite drinking coffee and have about 2-3 glasses of red wine per week. Don't eat any processed foods and won't eat dishes that have salt or sugar added.
I know this sounds like a drag but a stroke is a bigger drag. Like I said, my old habits were glorious on the taste buds. I am learning to appreciate different tastes now and it's working. Taking a hard 30 minute hike every morning is another acquired taste but life is worth honoring.
I write this not to dispute any of the finding on either side of the argument. Just hoping to give a perspective that might help someone.
My diet is not really low fat but low bad fat. I eat plenty of protein just specific about where it comes from. Lots of complex carb and pretty much no junk carbs. I think the key is to eat a healthy balanced diet along with a healthy balanced lifestyle.
All The Best,
CP
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