Another hit for the low-carb lifestyle/diet. Some recent studies showed that low-carb diets or fasting increased risk of cardiovascular disease, and the study below may explain why. Namely, low-carb diets may increase the risk of developing Afib, with the latter being a major risk factor for both heart attacks and strokes, as well as heart failure in the long run. Even doctors have started to view the low-carb lifestyle with suspicion and are now focusing mostly on caloric restriction or drugs like Ozempic for weight loss. I suspect it won’t be long before medicine gives up on fasting as well, since while it may lead to some weight loss, it favors losing muscle over fat and if practiced chronically can tank the resting metabolic rate (RMR) to the point that the poor person can start (re)gaining weight on even a quarter of the daily calories their “weight-peers” ingest on a daily basis without weight gain.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31020911/
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/715070
“…Restricting carbohydrates has become a popular weight loss strategy in recent years. While there are many different low-carbohydrate diets including the ketogenic, paleo and Atkins diets, most emphasize proteins while limiting intake of sugars, grains, legumes, fruits and starchy vegetables. “The long-term effect of carbohydrate restriction is still controversial, especially with regard to its influence on cardiovascular disease,” said Xiaodong Zhuang, MD, PhD, a cardiologist at the hospital affiliated with Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou, China, and the study’s lead author. “Considering the potential influence on arrhythmia, our study suggests this popular weight control method should be recommended cautiously.” The findings complement previous studies, several of which have associated both low-carbohydrate and high-carbohydrate diets with an increased risk of death. However, while previous studies suggested the nature of the non-carbohydrate component of the diet influenced the overall pattern observed, the new study did not. “Low carbohydrate diets were associated with increased risk of incident AFib regardless of the type of protein or fat used to replace the carbohydrate,” Zhuang said.”
