Beware -- a high protein, low carb diet may shorten your lifespan

A diet high in protein and low in carbohydrates could lead to a shorter lifespan and poor cardiometabolic health, according to a new Australian study. The study examined the effects of protein, fat and carbohydrate on energy intake, metabolic health, ageing and longevity in mice. It found that food intake is regulated by dietary protein and carbohydrate, and not by the number of calories consumed.

Conducted by the University of Sydney's Charles Perkins Centre, the research demonstrated in mice that calorie restriction, achieved by high protein diets, has no beneficial effects on lifespan, a phenomenon researchers predict will apply in humans. While a high protein, low carbohydrate diet resulted in reduced body fat and food intake, it also led to a shorter lifespan and poor cardiometabolic health. By contrast, a high carbohydrate, low protein diet resulted in longer lifespan and better cardiometabolic health, despite also increasing body fat.

A low-protein, high-fat diet provided the worst health outcomes, with fat content showing no negative influence on food intake. 'This research has enormous implications for how much food we eat, our body fat, our heart and metabolic health, and ultimately the duration of our lives,' said Steve Simpson, Academic Director of the Charles Perkins Centre and corresponding author of the study.(Read: Low carb diet bad for your heart!)

Co-author David Le Couteur from the University's Charles Perkins Centre and Professor of Geriatric Medicine at Concord Hospital said: 'This represents an enormous leap in our understanding of the impact of diet quality and diet balance on food intake, health, ageing and longevity'.(Read: The simple weight loss guide: All your queries on losing weight answered)

'We now face a new frontier in nutrition research,' he said. The results suggest that lifespan could be extended in animals by manipulating the ratio of macronutrients in their diet - the first evidence that pharmacology could be used to extend lifespan in normal mammals. Although mice were the subjects of this study, Professor Le Couteur said the results from the study accord with previous research in humans, but with a much larger number of dietary treatments and nutritional variables.(Read: High-protein diet: More harm than good?)

The researchers predict that a diet with moderate amounts of high quality protein -- around 15 to 20 per cent of total calorie intake -- that is relatively low in fat and high in carbohydrates will yield the best metabolic health and the longest life.

Source: PTI

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