Why It’s Time to Give Up Low-Carb Diets Once and for All

With Paleo as the most-searched diet of 2013, it's not just about Atkins or South Beach anymore. But T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., author of the new book, The Low-Carb Fraud, says giving up grains and more does way more harm than good. By Ava Feuer, REDBOOK.

You say that while low-carb diets are good for quick weight loss, they also cause serious health problems. How so?

What's called "low-carb" isn't really low-carb-it's low in refined carbohydrates. But the real problem is that low-carb diets, in which you get only 15 to 20 percent of your total calories from carbs, require eating a lot of animal-protein and fat. Population studies consistently show that low-carb diets lead to higher rates of heart disease, cancers, and other degenerative diseases. They also produce more halitosis (bad breath), headaches, rash, constipation, and muscle cramps.

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It seems like with the rise of Paleo and gluten-free diets, low-carb has become big again in just the last year. What's behind the resurgence?

That explosion certainly isn't based on any new scientific information. Instead, there's been an intense marketing effort because people like to see quick results, even when they're likely to suffer later. But Paleo is nothing more than a slightly-tweaked version of what's been around for years--Atkins, the South Beach Diet, etc. All are very low in total carbs and very high in protein and fat.

That said, gluten problems may be significant, at least with a relatively small number of people. For them, gluten should certainly be avoided, as is the case with any food that causes allergic-type symptoms and reactions.

But you argue that most Paleo societies actually consumed plant- and not animal-based diets because of the scarcity of meat. That's definitely not the messaging that's out there.

Supporters of the Paleo diet often portray it as having significant amounts of whole plant-based foods, but because of they encourage the high-protein, high-fat combo, they really support consuming generous amounts of animal-based foods, assuming this is what ancient Paleo people ate. And although most ancient people certainly hunted and killed wild animals for food and clothing, I haven't seen any evidence that it was generous.

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You believe low-carb is only a short-term fix--or a way to mask symptoms rather than treat a cause. How so? And why don't low-carb diets work in the long term?

A low-carb diet is great for losing body weight and sometimes slightly lowering blood cholesterol, but this is seldom, if ever, sustained. In the long term, low-carb, high-protein, high-fat diets cause high cholesterol--a major indicator of heart disease and cancer risks. Equally important, this way of eating minimizes the amount of plant-based, antioxidant- and complex carbohydrate-rich foods we eat. That's what prevents serious diseases and promotes health.

And you actually believe that low-carb diets are even worse than the standard American diet. That's a bold statement.

It is, but I stand by it. The only redeeming factor of low-carb diets could be their removal of high-carbohydrate products like cookies, cakes, and soft drinks, but that's only true if it's emphasized that refined carbs, not all carbs, are the problem. Complex carbohydrates, found in plants, are major suppliers of energy and contribute to stomach and gut health. The standard American diet is already too high in protein and fat, thanks to animal-based foods that displace healthful plant-based ones. Low-carb does that and worse, relying on protein and fat for 70 to 80 percent of total calories.

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You're a proponent of a Whole, Food, Plant-Based diet (WFPB). What does that involve?

The idea is to eat intact vegetables, fruits, grains, and legumes with little or no added oil, fats, refined carbs, and salt. For breakfast, you might have hot or cold whole-grain cereal with lots of dried and fresh fruit; at lunch a vegetable-filled salad or soup; and for dinner a vegetable stew with sweet potatoes or tacos with rice, beans, mixed vegetables, salsa, and guacamole.

And what are the benefits of a WFPB diet?

It's much lower in fat, protein, and animal-based foods, and is capable of rapidly producing remarkable effects on existing diseases--and maintaining those effects. You can go from showing symptoms of heart disease to being symptom-free. You can resolve type 2 diabetes and reduce the mediation needed to treat type 1 diabetes. Autoimmune diseases are resolvable, or at least improved. There's even some evidence that the development of most cancers can be slowed, if not reversed. And finally, there are many reports now emerging that chronic pain--from migraines, arthritic, and neuromuscular--which affects about 20 percent of American adults, can be greatly lessened in a matter of days to weeks.

In brief, what's your message for low-carb advocates?

Know that when you choose to go low-carb, you are really going high-protein and high-fat, which has serious consequences. Know, too, that it has never been shown that ailments and diseases can be resolved or reversed on a sustained low-carb diet.

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