Meat-Based Low-Carb Diet Linked to Higher Mortality Risk

A low-carbohydrate diet heavy on animal protein and fat is associated with greater long-term mortality, while a plant-based low-carbohydrate diet is linked to lower mortality, according to an Annals of Internal Medicine study.

Researchers analyzed food frequency questionnaires from 85,000 women from the Nurses' Health Study and 45,000 men from the Health Professionals' Follow-Up Study. Among the findings over roughly 20 years' follow-up:

• People who had the highest scores for an animal-based low-carbohydrate diet were at increased risk for all-cause and cardiovascular mortality.
• Those with the highest plant-based low-carbohydrate diet scores had a reduced risk for all-cause and cardiovascular mortality.
• Men who more closely followed any low-carbohydrate diet had a higher cancer mortality risk.

Editorialists see flaws in the study and observe that "no one can legitimately claim that a low-carbohydrate diet is either harmful or safe with any degree of certainty" in the absence of a large-scale randomized study.

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