Macro partitioning
Adherence to an animal-based low-carbohydrate diet is associated with significantly higher all-cause, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality compared to a vegetable-based low-carbohydrate diet.
If you follow a low-carbohydrate diet, ensure your fat and protein come primarily from plant sources (vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes) rather than animal products (meat, dairy). Animal-based low-carbohydrate diets are associated with higher mortality, while vegetable-based ones are associated with lower mortality.
A low-carbohydrate diet based on animal sources was associated with higher all-cause mortality in both men and women, whereas a vegetable-based low-carbohydrate diet was associated with lower all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality rates.
Why this rating
Large prospective cohort studies (NHS and HPFS) with long follow-up (20-26 years) and rigorous adjustment for confounders, though observational design limits causal inference.
Source
Low-Carbohydrate Diets and All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality
Teresa T. Fung et al. · Annals of Internal Medicine · 2010
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