low carb diet can reduce LDL

Colette is a nutritionist for the Atkins program and I thought I would pass this on - some people really do see a change for the better in their blood work. Mine dropped 20 points this year (not enough, but a start)
Jan



Colette Heimowitz Nutritionist      

There has been talk lately regarding concern for LDL cholesterol results while on Atkins. Despite the evidence provided by science, the majority of health professionals remain skeptical of this effect. The source of this skepticism is most likely the mistaken belief that all saturated fats cause an equivalent increase in LDL levels. Such a sweeping judgment, however, ignores a significant difference between distinct subtypes of saturated fatty acids (SFA). They include the following:

1. Lauric acid (C12:0) – this is the most atherogenic SFA, i.e. it increases LDL more than any other SFA
2. Myristic acid (C14:0) – this SFA is the second most atherogenic
3. Palmitic acid (C16:0) – this SFA is the third most atherogenic
4. Stearic acid (C18:0) – this SFA has no effect on blood LDL, i.e. it is considered “neutral"

Foods like red meat, butter, cheese, poultry, eggs, pork and fish are primarily composed of palmitic and stearic SFAs (typically in a 3-4:1 ratio) and contain minor amounts of lauric or myristic acids. Such a composition of SFAs would typically cause either a minor net increase or net lack of effect on total LDL levels. Yet one may ask, if a minor net increase in LDL levels is possible, then how does consuming such foods, cooked in heart healthy vegetable oils as part of a low-carbohydrate diet, lead to a reduction in LDL levels for some people?

Firstly, it is important to note that the primary oils utilized in the Atkins Diet include olive, safflower, flaxseed, and canola oils which are rich in unsaturated fats and exert a potent reduction in LDL levels. Secondly, and more importantly, individuals who switch to a low-carb diet from a typical Western diet minimize consumption of hydrogenated oils, i.e. trans fats, found in high-carb processed food items. Since trans fats are the most atherogenic dietary fats, by increasing LDL and simultaneously decreasing HDL, it is easy to see how a low-carbohydrate diet may decrease LDL levels by this fact alone. In effect, people switching from a high-carbohydrate to a low-carbohydrate diet must, by default, consume the majority of calories from whole foods, thereby avoiding consumption of trans fats typically found in carbohydrate-rich, processed foods.

Lastly, a reduction in LDL levels from a low-carbohydrate diet may also occur as a result of the reduction in triglyceride levels observed in the overwhelming majority of studies on low-carb diets. As triglyceride levels serve as a proxy measurement for VLDL levels, when triglycerides decrease, the VLDL size and/or particle number may decrease as well. As VLDL can be converted to LDL (following triglyceride delivery to body tissues by VLDL), it is easy to see that a reduction in triglyceride levels, and thereby VLDL, can lead to reduction in net synthesis of LDL in the blood which leads to a net reduction in total LDL levels.

One further fact needs mention here. High carbohydrate consumption is known to cause an increase in triglyceride levels. Given the biochemical conversion mechanism mentioned above, this may explain why LDL levels increase on such a diet. In short, high-carb diets may be dangerous to ones cardiovascular health.

In closing, given the enormous complexities of human metabolism, it is difficult to determine a priori who will experience a reduction in LDL levels as this effect is dependent on numerous factors that are not easily measured (previous dietary habits, genetic factors, overall lifestyle, etc). Nonetheless, known and demonstrated scientific facts reveal that it is not counterintuitive nor misleading to expect that in some individuals LDL levels may decrease in a low-carbohydrate dietary regimen.

This is interesting - but did you know that just lowering your weight - doesn't matter what you eat to lower your weight will lower your cholesterol? Even if all you ate was meat, if you decreased your calories enough to lose weight, cholesterol will drop.

What she doesn't mention is three important facts:

1. - Animal products are the only source in our diet which has cholesterol and the only foods we can eat that will cause cholesterol to rise. Like the ads say, there are two types of cholesterol, the foods we eat and our body's own genetically inherited ability to make cholesterol. There are a teeny tiny number of people who make too much cholesterol on their own - the vast majority with high cholesterol are high because of the added cholesterol that they eat. If you have high cholesterol and you want to get off medication you have to lose weight and if that isn't enough then you have to decrease animal products in your diet.

2.. - Foods high in carbohydrates can be extremely nutritious, low calorie and normally low in fat (avocado and nuts are rare examples of lots of fat). Just because something has carbohydrates doesn't mean it is highly processed. There is a huge difference between carbohydrates and highly processed carbohydrates. The first should be part of healthy diet especially since this is what your brain uses for energy. The second should not be part of our normal diet since it is extremely unhealthy and contributes to our obesity without adding any value or nutrition other than it tastes good. Avoiding baked potatoes is stupid, they are nutritious, filling and reasonably low calorie. Chopping that potato into fries and deep frying it takes a healthy food and makes it unhealthy and full of calories and slicing it thin into potato chips and frying it in hydrogenated fat is downright deadly (and especially addictive in my case). Ms Heimowitz seems to merge carbohydrateswith highly processed food which is detrimental advice for some people who don't realize the difference between the two.

3. - While olive oil, sunflower oil etc. are rich in unsaturated fats - they also contain saturated fat too - just less than some other oils. It's interesting but you notice she doesn't refer to they as being 100% unsaturated - because they aren't. So they are also a source of saturated fat in your diet when you eat them. I know it's subtle semantics, but sometimes people just don't realize this.

Skylar

I thought I would post this from Livestrong so you can see that there is saturated fat in things like olive oil - this is their info for the first listing of olive oil. I think it's good for us all to be aware and careful about how industry phrases things so they sound more than what they are.
Skylar


Nutrition Facts for Olive Oil

Serving Size: 1 Tbsp. (15ml)

Amount per Serving

• Calories 119 Calories from Fat 119

% Daily Value *

• Total Fat 13.5g 21%
• Saturated Fat 1.9g 10%
• Monounsaturated Fat 9.8g  
• Polyunsaturated Fat 1.4g  
• Cholesterol 0mg 0%
• Sodium 0.3mg 0%
• Potassium 0.1mg 0%
• Total Carbohydrate 0g 0%
• Dietary Fiber 0g 0%
• Sugars 0g  
• Protein 0g 0%

Est. Percent of Calories from: Fat 102.1% Carbs 0.0% Protein 0.0%

Thank you for the info Skylar - I was hoping you would share your thoughts as I know they are different from the Atkins way of thinking - I found your information enlightening. By the way, there is now a way to do an ECO Atkins and a Vegan Atkins too.  Interestingly, it generally all comes back around to lowering the caloric intake. The only really great thing I found about doing Atkins was that if I don't eat highly processed carbs, I don't have cravings and end up on a binge in the evening. So it was easier to keep the calories low since I was not hungry. I do believe it is possible to achieve the same goal without the high meat content but it was hard enough to figure out how to live Atkins and my life at the same time - take the meat out and it has got to be REAL hard. I have not gone back to a full Atkins diet since the end of May and I am encouraged by reading the posts of people here that that have been successful buy just focusing on healthier choices and exercise. That seems a more balanced way to live.
Jan

Hi Jan,

Glad you found my post informative - I have to say some of what I wrote surprised me when I first found out about it - especially that olive oils have saturated fat. I have seen Vegan Atkins awhile back in Vegetarian Times magazine a few years ago but I don't think it was Atkins company sanctioned.

I think you hit the nail on the head when you said healthier choices with moderate exercise is a more balanced way to live. We have to go back to whole foods and if you eat meat, you have to search to find animals raised the old fashioned way eating the foods they always ate and not corn. BTW, corn on the cob is good for you - it's not good for you when they force cows to eat it instead of grass. You can read more about this in Michael Pollen's popular book called the Omnivores Dilemma.

I'm reading an excellent book right now called The End of Overeating by Dr. David Kessler who used to be the head of the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and is best known for tackling the tobacco industry. This book is about the overwhelming way that food is designed to actually make us addicted to it - it hits the same dopamine centers in the brain that affects heroin and cocaine addicts. It's not surprising we are addicted to this heavily processed food. It is even more processed that I knew about and probably you too. The tricks they use to push fat, salt and sugar into things and then the mouth feel, smells etc. It's all chemicals devoid of nutrition and as cheap as can be. That restaurant grilled chicken breast you think is okay is full of hidden chemicals injected or vacuumed into the muscle fibres that you don't want or need and that's why it tastes different than when you cook at home. I recommend reading this book - and then avoiding all processed food. That's the only answer is to just completely cut out the addicting food which is as hard to do as stopping any hard core street drug.

Skylar

I don't think the vegetarian Atkins is sanctioned by the organization. I just thought it was interesting that if you want to you can adapt vegetarianism to one of the hardest programs to follow, if you are motivated enough.
One really great thing those months on Atkins did do for me was get me out of most processed foods - away from the lean lunches and "low cal" frozen foods that I relied on doing W.W's. (i did lose weight on those foods but it did not stay gone.)
I met a boat captain a few years ago the was raised on a farm and he had become vegetarian because the processed meat was just not the kind of food he grew up eating on the farm - it tasted really bad to him. I was not farm-raised myself but have grown my own food a few times in my life and it truly does taste different that what we buy in stores these days! Chicken, turkey, fruits and veggies all are so much better if you can grown them yourself.
thanks again Skylar

Jan