Human diet is one of the major factors that determine our propensity to diseases, as well as longevity. Doctors have repeatedly expressed this idea, but now it has got weighty confirmation in the form of two scientific studies, the results of which are published in the Cell Metabolism journal.
Eating Animal Fats
The authors of two scientific studies are Americans and Australians. It is noteworthy that the results of their work coincided in terms of a single nutritional aspect – both sides independently came to almost identical conclusions. These conclusions are as follows: low consumption of animal protein prolongs life.
The Longevity Study
Thus, the research team led by Dr. Walter Longo of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles (USA) analyzed the data on the health status of over 6,000 people aged over 50 years, who participated in the examination of the national health and nutrition, conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics in the USA. During the monitoring, the scientists have found that middle-aged people, whose diet contains large amounts of protein, face a higher risk of exposure to dangerous diseases. In particular, it was found that if people got 20% of the calories from protein each day, the likelihood of their death from cancer or diabetes increased by 4 times, and their overall mortality was twice higher compared with those whose diet contained less than 10% of protein calories. This correlation primarily concerns animal protein – vegetable proteins are less harmful.
Reason to Turn to Vegetarianism
According to Walter Longo, they conducted a research on simple organisms, mice and humans and obtained convincing evidence that a diet high in protein – especially animal protein – was almost as harmful to health as smoking.
Animal Fats & Cancer Risk
According to the explanation of the specialists, protein intake affects the production of growth hormone, which supports metabolism in the adult organism; besides it promotes the growth of cancer tumors. After 65 years, the situation changes: growth hormone levels in the body decrease, and the use of protein foods, on the contrary, supports the body.
Carbs, Proteins & Longevity
Australian researchers from the University of Sydney have also concluded that active protein intake during one’s lifetime is dangerous. The scientists restrained hundreds of mice to 25 different diets and found an interesting pattern. It turns out that a diet high in protein and low in carbohydrates rids people from the increased appetite and body fat, but it shortens life and causes the development of cardiovascular and endocrine diseases. On the contrary, carbohydrate diet helps to prolong life, but it is impossible to have a slim figure in this case.
The Most Dangerous Diet
Judging by the results of this experiment, the most dangerous diet is the one low in protein and high in fat.
