For years, people have thought that diet soda was the way to go if you wanted to cut down on the sugar and calories that come with regular soda. Apparently, they are now finding that it might not be such a safe choice after all. Researchers have now determined that drinking one soda a day, whether it's diet or regular, is associated with a much higher rates of heart disease and diabetes.

They've associated regular, sugar-sweetened soda, with those health concerns for years, but this is the first study that finds that diet soda is also an indicator of future health issues. They don't think that it is the ingredients in the diet soda that lead to health problems, but that drinking soda (of any variety) is an indicator of other questionable eating patterns. Which just confirms what we've all known for years. You can not redeem a quarter pounder with cheese and large fries with the addition of a diet soda.

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.

According to Australian researchers, a high carbohydrate, low-GI diet is the best for weight loss and for cardiovascular health. At least, they produced better results than the high-protein diets that they were compared to in an intensive 12-week study - the first study in the world to directly compare the two types of diets and their impact on health and weight/weight loss.

Over 120 women classified as overweight or obese participated in the study and were assigned to one of four (reduced calorie) diets: high protein/ low GI, high protein/high GI, high carbohydrate/log GI, high carbohydrate/high GI. The high carb dieters showed the most weight loss, but lowering the GI of that high carb diet doubled fat loss. Low GI coupled with high protein was the better of the two protein diet choices. Low GI also led to lower risk factors for heart disease, including having a lowering effect on the levels of LDL cholesterol.

The Glycemic Index ranks foods based on how they affect blood sugar levels. Low GI foods cause a slight increase, while high GI foods will cause a sharp spike. Low GI foods include oats, bran, apples, pears, peas, milk and yogurt.

According to research, it you are going to pig out it should be on regular food, not fast food. In a study where monkeys were fed a diet consisting mostly of  trans-fats, the types of fats most commonly found in fast foods, the primates gained more weight than those fed the same number of calories containing unsaturated fats.

Trans-fats, or partially hydrogenated oils, are bad news. They are found in many fast foods, baked goods and processed snacks. They have been shown to significantly increase the risk of heart disease, even more than saturated fats found in animal products.

After maintaining the monkeys on the fat laden diet for six years, the trans-fat-fed monkeys had gained 7.2% of their body weight, compared to just 1.8% in the group who ate unsaturated fat. CT scans showed that the trans-fat monkeys carried 30% more abdominal fat, which is a risk factor for diabetes and heart disease. Although the data might prove informative to some fast food eaters, I can't help but feel bad for those poor monkeys.

A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending the three-day Global Economics Conference, hosted by economic research powerhouse, the Milken Institute. Because one of the main themes of the conference was on health, healthcare, and the aging population, several of the seminars featured physicians (and authors who write about "diets!"). One of the panel discussions was called Nutrition and Health, Separating Fact from Fiction, with cardiologist Caldwell Esselstyn from the Cleveland Clinic, Francine Kaufman from USC's Department of Pediatrics and Children's Hospital of LA, Samuel Klein from the Washington University School of Medicine, Dean Ornish, from the University of California, San Francisco Medical School, and Harold Schmitz, Chief Science Officer, Mars Inc..

The biggest take away from that discussion was that the American diet is toxic, and that going toward an 80% plant-based diet will save your cardiovascular system in the long run. Of course, Harold Schmitz from Mars, Inc. was very heartily promoting the cardiovascular benefits of chocolate.

Check out the notes from the panel discussion at Blogging Milken.

Tonight TLC will begin airing a new series entitled, Honey, We're Killing the Kids!. The show will focus on 13 families from across the nation who's children's eating habits have become seriously unhealthy. A constant intake consisting of over sized portions of sugary, fat laden, low fiber foods has left these children inactive and at high risks for diabetes and heart disease.

Dr. Lisa Hark, who hosts the series, focuses on the cause of this epidemic in our country. She helps educate the families about how to make healthier food and activity choices that will benefit their lives for the longterm. She also uses a computer imaging program that takes a current picture of their child and fast forwards it into young adulthood to give the parents a frightening look at how obesity will shape their children.

According to a study conducted at Black Entertainment Television during the summer of 2005, there were far more more commercials for fast food and snacks on black-oriented TV than on channels aimed at the more general population. The results of this study, which will likely prove to be provocative, indicated a cause for the rising trend in obesity among African-American children. The study monitored commercials during the afternoon hours, the time slot most attractive to children who watch cartoons and 'tween shows; the the WB network and Disney Channel were also involved in the study. During the time slot, over 1,000 ads were shown on all three channels. On BET 66 percent of the ads were for fast food commercials, as opposed to 34 percent on the WB and none on the Disney channel. BET scored an 82 percent for soda ads, with WB at 11 percent and the Disney channel was again last at 6 percent. As for high calorie, low fiber snacks, the BET commercial time came in at 60 percent, nothing for the WB and the Disney channel scored 60 percent.

Fiber is often cited as being a crucial part of a healthy diet. "Fiber" refers to carbohydrates that cannot be digested and comes primarily from plant sources. A high fiber diet can help lower cholesterol, prevent heart disease and manage weight. Fiber reduces the risk of developing many digestive disorders and diabetes. Fiber is found in foods such as oatmeal, nuts, legumes, apples, blueberries, whole grains, brown rice, barley, zucchini celery and tomatoes.

It seems that many people, though they know that fiber is important, do not know precisely why. In a study last month done by the National Fiber Council (NFC), half of respondents could identify that fiber could help lower cholesterol, but 19%believed that it contributed to strong bones and 10% thought that fiber could improve vision. Neither of the latter is true, but this shows that fiber is a misunderstood part of the diet. Most study participants did not know how much fiber they should be consuming daily (32 grams or more, according to the NFC), nor did they know what types of food fiber could be found in. Foods like berries, nuts and whole grain breads were frequently listed as not being a significant source of dietary fiber, while more than half of all the respondents in the study said that steak was a good source of fiber. In reality, meat is very low in fiber.

On a less serious note, the participants were also asked what celebrities looked as though they consumed a high fiber diet. 34% of people said that Oprah looks most like she has a high fiber diet, followed by Brad Pitt at 21%.