Sunday, August 25, 2013

17 Low-Carbohydrate Diet studies and All-Cause Mortality

Low-Carbohydrate Diets and All-Cause Mortality: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of 17 Observational Studies (Published: January 25, 2013)

Results

"We included 17 studies for a systematic review, followed by a meta-analysis using pertinent data. Of the 272,216 people in 4 cohort studies using the low-carbohydrate score, 15,981 (5.9%) cases of death from all-cause were reported. The risk of all-cause mortality among those with high low-carbohydrate score was significantly elevated: the pooled RR (95% CI) was 1.31 (1.07-1.59)."

Conclusions

"Our meta-analysis supported long-term harm and no cardiovascular protection with low-carbohydrate diets. However, the observational studies were limited and moderately heterogeneous. Our findings underscore the imminent need for large-scale trials on the complex interactions between low-carbohydrate diets and long-term outcomes."

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0055030#authcontrib

This is one of many red flags that indicate the general public should be very cautious about adopting a long term low carbohydrate diet.