Large New Study Reveals Carbs Are Bad For Our Health

A large scale study that pulled in data from 18 countries around the world has confirmed what our society has started to agree on in recent years. Fats are good and too many carbohydrates, especially refined carbs, are what can raise our risk of premature death. The new data is drawn from the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study, which recruited people ages 35 to 70 in 18 countries between 2003 and 2013. They studied over 135,000 people for over 7 years in order to keep sufficient track of their data and its accuracy.

According to lead author Mahshid Dehghan, it was revealed that people with a high fat intake — about 35 % of their daily diet — had a 23 % lower risk of early death and 18 % lower risk of stroke compared to people who ate less fat. Meanwhile, high carb diets containing an average of 77 % carbohydrates were linked with a 28 % increased risk of death versus those who consumed a low-carb diet.

Based off of the results, the research upended the popular belief that fats are what puts us at a higher risk for premature death. However, the researchers of the study did clarify that more research needs to be done before our current dietary guidelines can be redone, especially since their research didn’t specify the types of food that were being consumed in connection to the types of diets they were studying.

What can we take from this large scale study moving forward? Moderation is key. We don’t need to cut out carbs completely, but we do need to moderate our intake.

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