Tim Crowe, Lecturer - Low Carb Paper

[Snez]

Moonie posted a while back re low-carb, a comment made in the West Australian by Tim Crowe, Lecturer, Deakin University - "It is just a matter of time before an Aussie dies from a low-carbo diet".

I have emailed Tim, his reply below. He has also sent me a pdf file on his paper "Low-carbohydrate diets: what are the potential short and long-term health implications?" I will attach it for anyone who is interested in reading it. I haven't read it yet.

Hi Sue
Thank you for your e-mail. Attached is the paper in full which goes into a lot more detail than the few quotes taken that were used in the news story.
Hopefully the paper will shed a bit more light on the potential link
between low-carb diets and serious cardiac health risks. The issue of insulin resistance you raised is a very difficult area to get into via e-mail.
Most of my work in this area has focussed on metabolic defects in the signalling pathway and not diet per se. Certainly for insulin resistance, the biggest difference a person can make is to actually lose weight and increase activity followed by appropriate dietary changes - this is where a lower glycaemic index diet may be beneficial rather then opting for a very-low-carb diet.
Regards
Tim
__________________________________________________ __
> Dr Tim Crowe
> Lecturer (Nutrition and Metabolism)
> Centre for Physical Activity and Nutrition Research (C-PAN)
> School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences
> Deakin University + 61 3 9251 7266
> 221 Burwood Highway + 61 3 9244 6017 (fax)
> Burwood VIC 3125 E-mail: tcrowe@deakin.edu.au
> AUSTRALIA www.deakin.edu.au/ens/

[Sherrie]

It is certainly pretty obvious after reading that, that no one really knows enough about this diet yet, good or bad.

He did raise some good points on hydration, exercise and calcium which I think are very important. Also I found what he said about that heart and pyruvate interesting, certainly something for people with heart problems to be aware of.

I wanted to quote this, having trouble pasting it as it keeps coming up in gibberish so going to try to insert it as a picture.

[Snez]

Yeh, I agree a lot more research is needed.

Regarding the dehydration, supplementation, vigorous exercise. That's all good to know but when you are on low-carb / Atkins you know all this, i.e. you know you have to drink heaps of water, take supplementation and avoid vigorous exercise. Thats all part of low-carbing. I think low-carbing is safe as long as you adhere to these things.

The one thing that has stuck from the paper is the author's conclusion that low-carb is only working because of the calorie reduction and the same weight-loss results can be achieved with a low-fat diet.

[Sherrie]

Well not really, you'd be suprised how many LC'ers do high intensity exercise, don't supplement, don't eat vegies etc....

If you look on some of the american boards and see some of the crap they consume, just because something is low in carbs doesn't mean it is good for you. Theres no point replacing high carb junk food for low carb junk food (I'm talking unhealthy stuff not healthy alternatives).

[Snez]

Yes I agree Sherrie. So many low-carbers do exercise too hard and don't take supplementation. Some of us are doing low-carb correctly and its unfortunate that their are lots of us who are not. What I meant was that the information on how to do low-carb is out there some people just choose to ignore it. Or they haven't educated themselves properly about low-carbing.

[sambalam]

well it's like anything. nurofen packets say to have tablets with food, otherwise your tummy will hurt or bleed. how many dumb dumbs wounder why they've got a gut ache afterwards???? when it's up to the individual to do something on their own responsibility, it's amazing how many ignore what they are told to do!

[Moonie]

The one thing that has stuck from the paper is the author's conclusion that low-carb is only working because of the calorie reduction and the same weight-loss results can be achieved with a low-fat diet.
This is probably true, but you feel like crap and are hungry all the time..

I also think those with a cardiac problem should be dissuaded from vigorous exercise anyway, no matter what way they eat...