The case for not restricting saturated fat on a low carbohydrate diet.

The article dispels common myths and provides a convincing argument for successful use of carbohydrate restriction in treating diabetes. One point stressed by Arora and McFarlane was that mono and polyunsaturated fat should be emphasized over saturated fat as a way to achieve caloric balance on a carbohydrate-restricted diet. We contend that the recommendation to intentionally restrict saturated fat is unwarranted and only serves to contribute to the misleading rhetoric surrounding the health effects of saturated fat.


We believe restriction of saturated fat is not warranted on a low-carbohydrate diet because of our work showing favorable responses in clinical risk factors for diabetes and cardiovascular disease in low-carbohydrate diets that were rich in saturated fat [2]. In addition, German & Dillard [3] have reviewed several experimental studies of the effects of saturated fats and the results are found to be variable and there is a general failure to meet the kind of unambiguous predictions that would justify the recommendation to reduce saturated fat in the population [3]. Other critical reviews of the evidence [4] have questioned whether public health recommendations for reducing saturated fat intake [5] are appropriate.


http://www.nutritionandmetabolism.com/content/2/1/21