"Eat fat, get fat" has been the conventional wisdom guiding American diets for the past two decades.Yet more and more research suggests this kind of thinking is dangerously misguided.Instead of finding evidence that low-fat eating plans offer health benefits, dozens of studies have suggestedinstead that these kinds of diets are unhelpful or potentially harmful. And new research points toanother food category that could be the real problem: simple carbohydrates.Alarge new analysis published August 29 in the journal The Lancetcompared more than 135,000 people on low-fat and low-carb diets across 18 countries. The researchers foundthat low-fat diets were more likely to be linked with death from all causes, and found a higher likelihood of heart attacks and heart disease as well. People on low-carb diets, on the other hand, hadsignificantly lower risk of both of these outcomes."Global dietary guidelines should be reconsidered in light of these findings," the researchers wrote in the paper.Why low-fat diets don't make people thinSeveral other recent studies of people on low-fat eating plans have shown similar results.An eight-year trial involving almost 50,000 womenputroughly half of themon a low-fat diet, and found that the womenon that plan didn't lower their risk of breast cancer, colorectal cancer, or heart disease. Plus, they didn't lose much weight, if any.The body needs some fat to function,so people on diets that lack this ingredient won'tfeel fulllonger term. Plus, fat helps you absorb vitamins and minerals, and is essential for blood clotting and muscle movement.It's also needed to build cell membranes (the shells that house each of your cells) and the protective shields around your nerves.Part of the problem with low-fat diets is theprocessed, "low-fat" foods that are often advertised as healthy.When food-makers remove the fat from a product, they also remove most of its flavor, so often wind up adding other "filler" ingredients like sugar to compensate.Because foods high in simple carbohydrates like white flour and sugarlack protein and fiber, theyonly satiate youbriefly, leaving you hangry later. This is why they're often called "empty calories."Not all fats are created equalSome fats are healthier than others, as a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association revealed.For that study, researchers tested what happened when thousands of people swapped out 5% of their calories from saturated fat (the type most often found in meat and dairy products) with calories from mono- and polyunsaturated fats (the kind found in olive oil, fish and nuts). They found that doing so was linked with numerous benefits, including a reduction in the risk of death andconditionslike heart disease and several neurodegenerative diseases."Not all fats are created equal," Harvard nutrition professor Dr. Frank B. Hu, a lead author on the study, told The New York Times. "We should eat more good ones from fish and avocados, instead of animal fats," hesaid.According to a health blog maintained by the Harvard Medical School, healthy fats include those from nuts, fish, and avocados; unhealthy ones are trans fats found in processed foods, and saturated fats "fall somewhere in between."Overall, the take-home message is simple: fats from vegetables, nuts, plants, and fish are a healthy component of any diet, while an excess of simple carbohydrates is probably not.SEE ALSO:Americans have been making a huge diet mistake for 100 years ' here's what they should do insteadJoin the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: Here's what happens to your body when you stop eating carbs
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