Study Finds Low-Fat Diet Won't Stop Cancer or Heart Disease
Wednesday, February 8, 2006 at 15:15 
The largest study ever to ask whether a low-fat diet reduces the risk of getting cancer or heart disease has found that the diet has no effect.
The $415 million federal study involved nearly 49,000 women ages 50 to 79 who were followed for eight years. In the end, those assigned to a low-fat diet had the same rates of breast cancer, colon cancer, heart attacks and strokes as those who ate whatever they pleased, researchers are reporting today.
"These studies are revolutionary," said Dr. Jules Hirsch, physician in chief emeritus at Rockefeller University in New York City, who has spent a lifetime studying the effects of diets on weight and health. "They should put a stop to this era of thinking that we have all the information we need to change the whole national diet and make everybody healthy."
The study, published in today's issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association, was not just an ordinary study, said Dr. Michael Thun, who directs epidemiological research for the American Cancer Society. It was so large and so expensive, Dr. Thun said, that it was "the Rolls-Royce of studies." As such, he added, it is likely to be the final word. "We usually have only one shot at a very large-scale trial on a particular issue," he said.
The results, the study investigators agreed, do not justify recommending low-fat diets to the public to reduce their heart disease and cancer risk. Given the lack of benefit found in the study, many medical researchers said that the best dietary advice, for now, was to follow federal guidelines for healthy eating, with less saturated and trans fats, more grains, and more fruits and vegetables.
Not everyone was convinced. Some, like Dr. Dean Ornish, a longtime promoter of low-fat diets and president of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, Calif., said that the women did not reduce their fat to low enough levels or eat enough fruits and vegetables, and that the study, even at eight years, did not give the diets enough time. click here for complete article
Reader Comments (1)
Second, I am not sure of the efficacy of a study that isolates diet. As I and everyone in the fitness industry believes, good health is an holistic activity. Exercise, good sleep, and a low fat diet must be practiced together.
Finally, I can only imagine the accuracy or inaccuracy of how the subjects truly ate.
The positive health experience of the Japanese, Okinawans, and other similar cultures tell us far more than this contrived medical study.
Stay away from all fast foods, red meat, fried foods, dairy, excess carbohydrates, and moderate your alcohol. Absolutely no smoking. Drink water