No-carbohydrate diet: Difference between revisions

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A no-carbohydrate diet (no-carb diet) is described as human carnivorism. It excludes dietary consumption of all carbohydrates and suggests fat as the main source of energy with sufficient protein. A no-carbohydrate diet is ketogenic, which means it causes the body to go into a state of ketosis (converting dietary fat and body fat into ketone bodies and using them to fuel the entire body and up to 95% of the brain. The remaining 5% still runs on glucose which is adequately supplied by converting dietary protein via gluconeogenesis or by converting glycerol from the breakdown of fat). It uses mainly animal source foods and requires a high saturated fat intake.

History

The earliest and primary proponent of an all animal-based diet was Vilhjalmur Stefansson, a Canadian explorer who lived with the Inuit for some time and who witnessed their diet as essentially consisting of meat and fish, with very few carbohydrates during the summer in the form of berries. Stefansson and a friend later volunteered for a one year experiment at Bellevue Hospital in New York to prove that he could thrive on a diet of nothing but meat, meat fat and internal organs of animals.^[1] His progress was closely monitored and experiments were done on his health throughout the year. At the end of the year, he did not show any symptoms of ill health; he did not develop scurvy, which many scientists had expected to manifest itself only a few months into the diet due to the lack of Vitamin C in muscle meat. However, Stefansson and his partner did not eat just muscle meat - they ate fat, raw brain, raw liver (a significant source of vitamin C and others), and other varieties of offal. The no-carb diet, particular one called the "South Beach Diet", has been known to reverse diabetes in some people.

Medical research

In lab tests on mice, prostate tumors grow slower with a no-carbohydrate diet.^[2]^[3]

"A high fat, high protein and no carbohydrate diet and similar drink, ClearScan, decreased myocardial uptake in oncology studies." When compared to fasting.^[4]

Criticism

Alexander Ströhle, Maike Wolters and Andreas Hahn, with the Department of Food Science at the University of Hannover, rely on Bjerregaard et al. (2003)^[5] to argue that hunters like the Inuit, who traditionally obtain most of their dietary energy from wild animals and therefore eat a low-carbohydrate diet, seem to have a high mortality from coronary heart disease, but the study did not control for carbohydrate consumption or smoking, which is significant, considering it was a "westernized" Inuit population of which 79% were current smokers and more than likely ate a non-traditional diet.^[6]

References

^ McClellan WS, Du Bois EF (1930). "Clinical calorimetry. XLV. Prolonged meat diets with a study on kidney function and ketosis" J. Biol. Chem. 87: 651–668.
^ No-Carb Diet May Curb Prostate Cancer
^ Freedland SJ, Mavropoulos J, Wang A; et al. (2008). "Carbohydrate restriction, prostate cancer growth, and the insulin-like growth factor axis". Prostate. 68 (1): 11–9. doi:10.1002/pros.20683. PMID 17999389. {{cite journal}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |author= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Bennett, Lauren. "The value of a high fat, high protein and no carbohydrate diet versus fasting in myocardial uptake in oncology studies". J Nucl Med. 2008; 49 (Supplement 1):429P.
^ Bjerregaard P, Young TK, Hegele RA (2003, February). "Low incidence of cardiovascular disease among the Inuit--what is the evidence?". Atherosclerosis. 166 (2): 351–57. doi:10.1016/S0021-9150(02)00364-7. PMID 12535749. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: year (link)
^ Ströhle A, Wolters M, Hahn A. (2007). "Carbohydrates and the diet-atherosclerosis connection--more between earth and heaven. Comment on the article "The atherogenic potential of dietary carbohydrate"". Prev Med. 44 (1): 82–4. doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2006.08.014. PMID 16997359. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

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 ==History==
-The earliest and primary proponent of an all animal-based diet was [[Vilhjalmur Stefansson]], a Canadian explorer who lived with the [[Inuit]] for some time and who witnessed their diet as essentially consisting of meat and fish, with very few carbohydrates during the summer in the form of berries. Stefansson and a friend later volunteered for a one year experiment at Bellevue Hospital in New York to prove that he could thrive on a diet of nothing but meat, meat fat and internal organs of animals.<ref>McClellan WS, Du Bois EF (1930). "[http://www.jbc.org/cgi/reprint/87/3/651.pdf Clinical calorimetry. XLV. Prolonged meat diets with a study on kidney function and ketosis]" ''J. Biol. Chem.'' 87: 651–668.</ref>  His progress was closely monitored and experiments were done on his health throughout the year.  At the end of the year, he did not show any symptoms of ill health; he did not develop [[scurvy]], which many scientists had expected to manifest itself only a few months into the diet due to the lack of Vitamin C in muscle meat. However, Stefansson and his partner did not eat just muscle meat - they ate fat, raw brain, raw liver (a significant source of vitamin C and others), and other varieties of [[offal]].
+The earliest and primary proponent of an all animal-based diet was [[Vilhjalmur Stefansson]], a Canadian explorer who lived with the [[Inuit]] for some time and who witnessed their diet as essentially consisting of meat and fish, with very few carbohydrates during the summer in the form of berries. Stefansson and a friend later volunteered for a one year experiment at Bellevue Hospital in New York to prove that he could thrive on a diet of nothing but meat, meat fat and internal organs of animals.<ref>McClellan WS, Du Bois EF (1930). "[http://www.jbc.org/cgi/reprint/87/3/651.pdf Clinical calorimetry. XLV. Prolonged meat diets with a study on kidney function and ketosis]" ''J. Biol. Chem.'' 87: 651–668.</ref>  His progress was closely monitored and experiments were done on his health throughout the year.  At the end of the year, he did not show any symptoms of ill health; he did not develop [[scurvy]], which many scientists had expected to manifest itself only a few months into the diet due to the lack of Vitamin C in muscle meat. However, Stefansson and his partner did not eat just muscle meat - they ate fat, raw brain, raw liver (a significant source of vitamin C and others), and other varieties of [[offal]]. The no-carb diet, particular one called the "[[South Beach Diet]]", has been known to reverse diabetes in some people.
 ==Medical research==