link between high cholesterol and vegetarian diet

[Guest guest]

I have recently been reading much about the link between the modern

vegetarian Indian diet evolving into one of poorer quality grains,

ghee that isn't truely ghee, and higher amounts of carbohydrates which

have led to excessive amounts of cholesterol in the blood after years

of this diet. what is the link? do proteins play a big part in the

breakdown and assimilation of carbohydrates? thanks.

[Guest guest]

> I have recently been reading much about the link between the modern

> vegetarian Indian diet evolving into one of poorer quality grains,

> ghee that isn't truely ghee, and higher amounts of carbohydrates which

> have led to excessive amounts of cholesterol in the blood after years

> of this diet. what is the link? do proteins play a big part in the

> breakdown and assimilation of carbohydrates? thanks.

 

 

"Some would dismiss the idea that dietary protein can have any

influence upon cardiovascular disease with the argument that there is

no difference in CHD incidence in populations consuming high vs. low-

protein diets. However, a serious problem with this argument is the

lack of much substantial variability in current protein consumption

levels worldwide to produce support for this line of reasoning via

epidemiological comparisons. Global surveys of the world's

populations indicate a remarkably limited range of protein

consumption that varies from about 10 to 15% of total calories [speth

1989]. Further, except for reports of Inuit and Eskimo diets, I know

of no references showing any contemporary populations consuming

15-20% of their calories as protein, much less high-protein diets in

the 30-40% range of consumption such as our ancestors or recent

hunter-gatherers have sometimes eaten. Speth [1989] has extensively

studied protein intakes in contemporary worldwide populations and

notes that most human populations today obtain between 10-15% of

their total energy requirements from protein. For Americans the value

is 14%, for Swedes it is 12%; for Italian shipyard workers it is

12.5-12.8%; for Japanese it is 14.4%, and for West Germans it is

11.1%. Even among athletes, values rarely exceed 15%. Speth [1989]

shows that Italian athletes consumed between 17-18% of their caloric

intake as protein; Russian athletes consumed 11-13%; and Australian

athletes competing at the 1968 Olympic Games consumed 14.4% of their

daily calories as protein. This data clearly demonstrates the

relative homogeneity amongst contemporary global populations in their

protein consumption levels. That protein consumption may have

anything to do with the atherosclerotic process and hence CHD is an

obscure topic which has been rarely examined by the medical and

nutritional communities. It is not surprising that few are aware of

the literature which supports this concept. However, there are now at

least three human clinical trials [Wolfe et al. 1991; Wolfe et al.

1992; Wolfe 1995] demonstrating that isocaloric (calorie-for-calorie)

substitution of protein (ranging from 17-27% of total daily calories)

for carbohydrate reduces triglycerides, VLDL, LDL, and total

cholesterol while increasing HDL cholesterol. Further, acute

consumption of high levels of beef protein without carbohydrate

evokes an extremely small rise in serum insulin levels and a

concomitant substantial rise in glucagon [Westphal et al. 1990]. Both

of these acute responses would tend to be associated with a reduced

risk for CHD. Lastly, in animal models, high levels of protein are

known to dramatically inhibit hepatic VLDL synthesis [Kalopissis et

al. 1995]. VLDLs are the precursor molecules for LDL cholesterol."

 

source: http://www.beyondveg.com/cordain-l/macronutr/macronutr-

ratios-1b.shtml

 

Caldecott

todd (AT) toddcaldecott (DOT) com

www.toddcaldecott.com