Kevin Klatt, PhD, RD

The low-fat/low-carb wars continue this week with a new publication in the Annals of Internal Medicine (1). Headlines are inflaming the conversation, much like the headline from MedPage Today stating: " Breaking News: Low Carb Beats Low Fat for Weight Loss, CV Risk "  Let's take a look at the study and see what it says: I've detailed the study at the bottom half of this post. For a quick summary, the study was a free-living 12month long trial (in no way whatsoever a metabolic ward trial), that included 148 mostly female individuals, with about half being black, who were randomly assigned to follow one of 2 diets: a low fat ( less than 30% of kcals from fat, 7% from saturated fat, 55% carb - followed NCEP guidelines) and a low carb (less than 40 total net carbs per day). Neither diet was instructed to reduced calories, and they were also told to maintain physical activity levels. Both diets were told to consume 25g/day of fiber, and they received a lot of educat...

Ugh, saturated fats. Talk about one of the most polarizing nutrients in the field of nutrition sciences. Observational data questions their link to CVD (1). Original meta-analyses of RCT data that substituted PUFAs for SFA didn't adequately isolate their effects, were accused of biased inclusion and further analyses that have corrected for biases saw beneficial effects disappear and some cause for concern, regarding n-6's (2, 3,4 ) - this has been critiqued as well here  and here . SFAs are just a scientific PITA. I don't personally fear consuming them - I prioritize some over others, sticking to plant varieties mostly. I personally take the perspective that if you're focusing a lot of your diet around plants, which are cardio-protective for a number of reasons (5,6), you're doing yourself some good. One topic of scientific discussion that's come up lately, and the reason for a lack of a link between saturated fat and CVD, is the way that LDL particle subcla...

The DRI for potassium(K) is 4.7g/day for men and women ages 14 and up - this recommendations is set as an Adequate Intake (AI), because an RDA (meeting 99% of the population needs) could not be established. The official recommendation is as follows: "Adults should consume at least 4.7 grams of potassium per day to lower blood pressure, blunt the effects of salt, and reduce the risk of kidney stones and bone loss. However, most American women 31 to 50 years old consume no more than half of the recommended amount of potassium, and men's intake is only moderately higher." The reality is much dimmer than this - less than 2% of the population is reaching the potassium DRI, as of 2003-2008 NHANES data (5). This is likely exacerbating the issue of hypertension in America, where 1/3 of Americans have high blood pressure. Worse than not getting enough potassium is the unbalanced potassium:sodium ratio, which should be kept around 2:1 (2). Leving's had a really great di...