People who cut out saturated fatty acids while upping their intake of white bread, pasta and other refined carbohydrates that can cause blood sugar to spike aren't doing their heart any favours.
People who cut out saturated fatty acids while upping their intake of white bread, pasta and other refined carbohydrates that can cause blood sugar to spike aren't doing their heart any favours.
Glycemic index is a measure of how quickly blood sugar jumps after eating a particular type of carbohydrate. Low glycemic index foods tend to be high in fibre and less refined, such as foods made from whole grains; high glycemic foods are often lower in fibre and more highly refined, and include white bread, pasta made from white flour, and bananas.
To investigate how increasing carbohydrate intake while reducing saturated fatty acid intake affected the heart, the researchers looked at 53,644 men and women from Denmark who had never suffered heart attacks. During follow-up, which averaged about 12 years, nearly 2,000 heart attacks were documented. The researchers divided the participants into three groups based on the average glycemic index of the carbohydrates in their diet, and then calculated heart attack risk based on the composition of their diet.
It was found that heart attack risk fell by 12 percent for every additional 5 percent of a person's total calorie intake that came from carbohydrates - if a person's average dietary glycemic index was low. However, this reduction wasn't statistically significant, meaning it could have been due to chance. But among the people with the highest average dietary glycemic index, every 5 percent increase in carbohydrate calories increased the heart attack risk by 33 percent. For people whose average glycemic index fell in the middle, an increase in carbohydrate intake along with a reduction in saturated fatty acid intake had no effect on heart risk.
The findings suggest that replacing saturated fatty acids with carbohydrates with low-glycemic index values is associated with a lower risk of heart problems, whereas replacing fatty acids with carbohydrates with high-glycemic index values raises the risk of heart troubles.
Glycemic index is a measure of how quickly blood sugar jumps after eating a particular type of carbohydrate. Low glycemic index foods tend to be high in fibre and less refined, such as foods made from whole grains; high glycemic foods are often lower in fibre and more highly refined, and include white bread, pasta made from white flour, and bananas.
To investigate how increasing carbohydrate intake while reducing saturated fatty acid intake affected the heart, the researchers looked at 53,644 men and women from Denmark who had never suffered heart attacks. During follow-up, which averaged about 12 years, nearly 2,000 heart attacks were documented. The researchers divided the participants into three groups based on the average glycemic index of the carbohydrates in their diet, and then calculated heart attack risk based on the composition of their diet.
It was found that heart attack risk fell by 12 percent for every additional 5 percent of a person's total calorie intake that came from carbohydrates - if a person's average dietary glycemic index was low. However, this reduction wasn't statistically significant, meaning it could have been due to chance. But among the people with the highest average dietary glycemic index, every 5 percent increase in carbohydrate calories increased the heart attack risk by 33 percent. For people whose average glycemic index fell in the middle, an increase in carbohydrate intake along with a reduction in saturated fatty acid intake had no effect on heart risk.
The findings suggest that replacing saturated fatty acids with carbohydrates with low-glycemic index values is associated with a lower risk of heart problems, whereas replacing fatty acids with carbohydrates with high-glycemic index values raises the risk of heart troubles.
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