"harvard" news and stories

Not all low-carbers like sticking to their diets because they sometimes feel that they are missing out on some of their favorite foods, but one of the most frequently heard warnings is not that anyone on the diet will never be able to eat bread again, but that the high-fat diet is bad for their hearts. It turns out that bit of conventional wisdom might not be true after all.

A new, long-term study, done by researchers at the Harvard Medical School, followed the records of women over the course of two decades. The women followed different types of diets, but were not actually on a "diet," and were actually slightly overweight on average. The study produced some interesting results. First, it found that low-carb/high-fat diets, such as the Atkins diet, do not raise the risk of heart disease. Second, it found that eating a lot of processed foods could possibly raise that risk. Third, and most interestingly, it revealed that low-carbers who got most of their protein and fat from vegetables, rather than from animal sources, reduced their risk of heart disease by an average 30% over the women who ate more animal fat.

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At Harvard Medical School, an experiment involving red wine has yielded some very interesting results. The study found that the effects of a poor, high-calories diet were offset by a chemical that is naturally found in red wine, resveratrol, which comes from the skin of grapes. On top of that, it seemed to help extend the lifespan in general.

The study was only conducted on mice, not people. The mice were fed a diet in which 60% of the calories came from fat. All the mice gained weight, but the ones that were also given a "a large daily dose of resveratrol" had " all the pleasures of gluttony but paid none of the price" and lived just as well, physically and mentally, as the mice on healthy diets did.

The only problem is not that the study was conducted on mice, but the dose of resveratrol that they were given. One litre of red wine contains 1.5 to 3 milligrams of resveratrol. "A 150-pound person would need to drink from 1,500 to 3,000 bottles of red wine a day" to get the same dose as the mice, 24-mg per kg of body weight. Smaller amounts would have a positive, but correspondingly weaker, effect, but since the results are no confirmed on humans yet, limiting yourself to an extra glass of wine is probably still a better idea than having an extra bottle.

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A recently completely study conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health provided another piece of ammunition in the ongoing battle to get sodas out of schools. After observing kids at 10 middle schools, it was found that 71% buy "sugar-sweetened beverages from school vending machines." Water was the second most popular drink, but soda sales tripled its numbers.

Perhaps the conclusion of the study was that access to soda was too easy and that this is another reasons schools should make them less available, but the study did not compare soda purchases from, say, a machine stocked with non-sweetened drinks. Even though there was water in the machines, if you have even looked at a soda machine on a school campus, you'll notice that water is only one of the 8 or so options, if it is there at all. Yes, students are buying too much soda if the middle school students from the study are drinking it down on a daily basis, but the kids want to buy something and an alternative should be provided - otherwise they'll just wait until school is out and head across the street to buy a soda from the nearest fast food joint or convenience store.

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A Harvard-based study suggests that eating oily fish high in omega-3 fatty acids may lower the risk of arrhythmia by improving the electrical signals that keep the heart beating regularly. The study also linked diets high in oily fish to lower resting heart rates, which are generally regarded as less of a risk than high resting heart rates, Food Production Daily reported. The study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, was based on dietary data collected from more than 5,000 people in the U.S. in 1989 and 1990. Researchers of course noted that further studies are needed to explore and confirm the results.