I'm a lurker rather than a poster, but I thought I'd share this article that came up as the most read item on the BBC news website today.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8218780.stm


"For long-term health at least one-third of what we eat should be bread, rice, potatoes, pasta or other starchy food." Pah. I'd be the size of a house and feel too grotty to stand.

I just saw this article too. Then came directly here to see if anyone had posted it.

trying again

For some reason the original wouldn't load, so I'm trying again.



Ahhhh.... mice!

This study is totally bogus. Mice and rats react totally different to animal fats as it is foreign and therefore poison food to them.

I think I will stay with low carb for now. I will live longer.

Association of hemoglobin A1c with cardiovascular disease and mortality in adults:

"Increasing evidence suggests a continuous relationship between blood glucose concentrations and cardiovascular risk, even below diagnostic threshold levels for diabetes.

CONCLUSIONS: The risk for cardiovascular disease and total mortality associated with hemoglobin A1c concentrations increased continuously through the sample distribution. Most of the events in the sample occurred in persons with moderately elevated HbA1c concentrations. These findings support the need for randomized trials of interventions to reduce hemoglobin A1c concentrations in persons without diabetes."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15381514

Atkins controversy reopened:
http://www.smartplanet.com/technolo...ontroversy/341/

Mice are standard "starter" research subjects and their differences from humans are not ignored by researchers. Many of the supplements and medicines you ingest were first tested on mice - then working their way up the ladder to physiologies closer to humans, culminating in human testing. The differences are expected and documented. These researchers don't have anything personal against LC; they're just documenting the results they see in front of them.

I personally think the article did the science a disservice when it quoted the "eat more starch" guy at the end. That's a kind of ridiculous and provocative quote to have at the tail end of the article. Their premise was to highlight that a study suggests that overconsumption of protein could be harmful, not that people should eat more starch. I think they should have ended it with the suggestion that people should keep their protein intake to a certain percentage of their total calories. That's nothing more or less than a lot of folks here have found through their own experimentation on their own bodies through following the LC eating plan.

I'm so glad that I am not a mouse!!



Totally agree!!

There are so much wrong with this report but the headline has already done all the damage it's going to do.

1. Mice are not human
2. What exactly did they feed the mice (this is very important) not the percentage of fat or protein or carb but what did they actually eat (lard or soy oil for example as fat)
3. And why is a low carb diet automatically a high protein diet?

Like I said, the damage has been done and many people who were on or planning to do low-carb have been scared off again from finding a healthy solution to all their ills.

Makes me so frustrated and upset.

"Mice are omnivores and will eat a variety of things. They seem to prefer cereals, seeds and nuts but also like foods high in fat and protein such as butter, bacon, meat and sweets"

Just because an animal likes something it does not make it a natural part of their diet. Please tell me where, in the wild, a mouse would obtain foods high in fat and/or protein.
My dd's keep rats and mice as pets...they do not do well on diets high in fat or protein, it makes them sick and causes them diarrhea/skin problems.
They do best on a diet that is less than 18% protein, less than 5% fat and the balance carbs.
You'd think researchers would have learned their lesson with the rabbits.

What do mice eat

http://www.asktheexterminator.com/r..._Mice_Eat.shtml


http://www.pestworldforkids.org/mice.html


I'm sure this study will lead to some human studies. I agree though it's pretty damaging nontheless... the low carb researcher dumbs his low carb diet after the study is over - pretty dramatic, this one will not just fade away or be written off as polyunsaturated fats I'm afraid.

Interestingly, the study showed that cholesterol and other markers did not tip off that the arteries had reached such a bad shape. This jives with the fact that many people have perfect cholesterol and other markers before suddenely falling over dead due to heart artery disease.

Low carbohydrate, high protein and ApoE-/- mice
OK, here's the hot abstract from back in 2007.

http://high-fat-nutrition.blogspot.com/

An article that makes any suggestions about how people should eat, in the course of reporting this mouse experiment, is the kind of journalism we need less of, IMO.

Can I point out, once again, that there is a distinct difference between what an aminal will eat versus what foods it does best on; the difference between simply keeping it alive and keeping it healthy.

But that's the whole point - that's what we are trying to figure out.

It seems many mice eat insects and other non plant food in addition to plant food in the wild on their own - and, if given a choice, they will eat basically anything (sounds like us).

That's what these studies are about - to see the effects of various diets.

Some argue that the natural diet of humans is fruit and meat - others argue that it is meat and not fruit, others argue that we should be eating mostly relatively non processed starchy carbs as the bulk of our diet with sparse to low/moderate animal protein/fat contribution - tubers, shoots, roots and whole grains.... that this is what created the energy to fuel and create the large human brain - its controversial.... certainly weston price saw a very mixed diet lacking sugar, stimulants and processed carbs/fats when he visited tribes/peoples not yet effected by the foods of commerce - there is no agreement on what constitutes a healthy human diet .... it may even depend on where you are.... the modern diet consists mainly of sugar, stimulants, alcohol, large muscle meat portions, sat fat/pasteurized cow milk based foods, veg oils and refined foam carbs, and preservatives and various chemicals, treatments and added "vitamins" ... in super sized quantities - its a mess

Obviously, human studies need to be done.

Just because an animal is opportunistic like man is doesn't mean that their metabolisms are the same. The opportunities that mice have are totally different than the opportunities that man has.

There are other animals who have close metabolisms to man, such as pigs.