What To Eat: Science vs. Swagger

Hardly a day, or at most a week, goes by without a new headline advising one eating pattern or another. In a world where heart disease, obesity, diabetes mellitus and other chronic diseases are serious drains on health, happiness and national budgets, reliable information on sound nutritional patterns is crucial to turn the tide on these food borne illnesses. The contrast between the good and the bad of "nutrition experts" was highlighted this week providing a lesson in the care it takes to obtain reliable health information in a digital world where anyone can be an expert. The "good" side of nutrition advice comes from a new scientific report derived from data on 131,342 participants in the Nurses' Health Study and the Physicians Health Study (85,013 women and 46,329 men) who were followed from as early as 1980 until 2012 (http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2540540). Participants had baseline and repeat questionnaires every two years on dietary intake. There were 36,115 deaths with 8,851 due to cardiovascular disease (CVD), 13,159 from cancer, and 14,105 from other causes. The researchers found that the higher the intake of dietary animal protein (eggs, dairy, and any meat, fish or fowl) the higher the CVD mortality. In contrast, the higher the plant derived protein intake (grains, cereals, pasta, nuts, and legumes) the lower the mortality, particularly CVD deaths. The association of increased death rates in those that consumed more animal protein source...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news