Until recently, some people praised low-carbohydrate diets as the ideal solution for weight loss, but researchers now warn against this method because they are unsafe and should be avoided.
A study of 24,825 people who participated in the National Health Program and American Nutrition Screening Survey found that those who ate less carbohydrates were 32 percent more likely to die early than those who were more likely to die. The researchers divided the survey participants by carbohydrate levels in their diet.
The risk of death from heart disease was 51% higher for the group with lower carbohydrate intake, 50% for stroke and 32% for cancer.
Researchers at Lodz Medical University in Poland replicated the results in a descriptive analysis of seven surveys with 447,506 subjects followed after 15.6 years on average. Linking this investigation between low-carbohydrate diets and high risk of death rates associated with cardiovascular disease was 13% and 8% for cancer.
The results found that low carbohydrate diets were unsafe and should not be recommended, but cautioned that the study did not prove that low-carbohydrate diets directly increased the risk of premature death and further research was needed to provide conclusive evidence.