Denise Minger, who is arguably most well known for attempting to debunk The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell, has come out with an unexpected blog post with a new perspective on nutritional science. It’s a lengthy read, so settle in somewhere cozy with a cup of tea and enjoy her review of previous studies and a fresh take on the truth about what causes heart disease, diabetes and insulin resistance.
After an exhaustive look at the scientific literature, Ms. Minger has reversed some of her previous assertions. She reports, rather shockingly, that a diet of rice and sugar has been responsible for reversing health problems! Yes, you read that correctly, the current macronutrient scapegoat for heart disease and diabetes, carbohydrates (even refined white carbs and sugar) has been exonerated.
Denise Minger even issues an apology to Doctors MacDougall, Campbell, Esselstyn, Ornish, Barnard, et al., who have proven that a low fat, plant-based diet reverses disease and admits that she previously had it wrong:
“For the past few years (five? six? seven ate nine?), I’ve asserted that the success of plant-based diets is due to their whole-foodsness (eliminating processed junk, refined sugar, and refined flour), their low PUFA intake regardless of total fat (with the implication that higher non-PUFA fat consumption would be hunky dory), and the increase in other health-promoting behaviors that come with making a big change in the foods you eat (more exercise, less drinking and smoking, less couch-potatoism, etc.). I still think those things are relevant. But I now believe I dismissed the role of low total fat intake before I gave the data a fair and thorough analysis. This is a breach of the standards I hold myself to as a science blogger, which involve impartially examining all evidence before drawing conclusions.
So, I’d like to take this opportunity to say, HEY GUYS: I’m sorry.
To the aforementioned doctors: I’m sorry for jumping the gun with your research and being snarky when I reference you. I don’t always agree with the way you interpret your own work; I’m often unsettled by your debate tactics; I worry that the co-mingling of animal rights activism and nutritional research is toxic for remaining scientifically objective. But good heavens, I sure dismissed y’alls results before digging as deep as I should have—and in the process, missed out on some amazing opportunities to broaden my understanding of diet (and communicate those findings to my readers). Thanks for being on this planet and helping broken people heal.”
What are her conclusions? Well, the notion that a high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet causes obesity, heart disease and diabetes is just plain wrong. She does not go so far as to endorse her former vegan lifestyle, as she also states that limited amounts of lean animal products were included in some of these diets and disease was still halted and reversed.
The blog post goes on to mention the mechanism by which low-fat, high-carbohydrate diets work. One result is increased insulin sensitivity. Also, saturated fat makes it more likely that LDL will contribute to arteriosclerosis. There is more, but I will leave it to you to read the post!
Stay tuned as she is still working on Part 2 on the same subject, which I am sure will be equally fascinating.