New Delhi:
Carbohydrates are known as energy-giver for the body. However, a new finding by the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) suggests that people with a high carbohydrate diet have a higher risk of dying younger compared to those consuming more fat. The new study also counter-argued on other health facts by dismissing the accepted notion of how low-consumption of dietary fat helps keep blood cholesterol levels in check and reduce chances of heart attack.
"Individuals with 'highest-quality' diet, which included roughly 54 per cent of energy from carbohydrates, 28 per cent from fat, and 18 per cent from protein, had a 25 per cent lower risk of "all-cause mortality" when compared with those with a poor-quality diet," the study by PURE states.
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This new finding of the PURE report have also been approved by like-minded senior cardiologists. Cardiovascular disease is considered a global epidemic with 80 per cent of the burden of the illness in low-income and middle-income countries. And the senior cardiologists in support of the PURE theory said that to control diseases such as diabetes, obesity and hypertension one should cut down of the consumption of carbohydrate rich foods such as rice, roti and breads. They also opined that saturated fats should be avoided.
"A balanced diet dictates that not more than 50 per cent of our diet should be carbohydrates and about 30-35 per cent should be fat. It is extremely crucial to limit the intake of carbohydrate, especially the refined ones, and consume healthy fat," senior interventional cardiologist of Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Suvro Banerjee, told PTI on the occasion of World Heart Day on Saturday.
Dr Suvro Baneerjee also said that refined carbohydrates such as polished rice and sugar-based food items may not only increase blood cholesterol but also accelerate onset of diabetes, obesity and heart diseases, The senior cardiologist also added that unlike the common notion on dietary fat, it is not as bad as previously thought.
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"Not only unsaturated fats (which have been known to be good fats) but also moderate amount of saturated fats may be good for the heart. However, transfat should be totally avoided. The long-held view that one should avoid meat, especially red meat, has also been challenged. Unprocessed meat should be preferred over processed meat," he said.
The cardiologist according to his theory has debunked many health facts such as dairy products which are full of milk fat does your body more good than harm when taken with moderation.
"In a poverty-stricken country as ours, relatively cheaper and easily available carbohydrates are the mainstay of our diet. Hence, implications of the PURE study are more important for India than western countries, where proportion
of carbohydrate in the diet is usually lower," Banerjee said.
Debasis Das, consultant, Cardiac Surgery, Narayana Super Specialty Hospital also supported the theory of PURE and fellow acquaintance Suvro Baneerjee by saying that carbohydrates are the main reason for weight gain and not fats.
