The Golden Mean : Moderation In All Things

"To be specific about moderate, the lowest risk of death was in those people who consume three to four servings [or a total of 375 to 500 grams] of fruits, vegetables and legumes a day, with little additional benefit from more."
Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario

"A decrease in fat intake automatically led to an increase in carbohydrate consumption and our findings may explain why certain populations such as South Asians, who do not consume much fat but consume a lot of carbohydrates, have higher mortality rates."
"Our study found ... little additional benefit for [fruit and vegetable] intake beyond that range [between 375 to 500 grams]."
"We found no evidence that below 10 per cent of energy from saturated fat is beneficial - and going below seven per cent is even harmful."
"The message of our study is moderation as opposed to very low or very high intake in consumption of both fats and carbohydrates."
Mahshid Dehghan, investigator, Population Health Research Institute (PHRI), McMaster University

"Additionally, fruit intake was more strongly associated with benefit than vegetables."
"Legumes are commonly consumed by many populations in South Asia, Africa and Latin America. Eating even one serving per day decreases the risk of cardiovascular disease and death."
"Legumes are not commonly consumed outside these geographic regions, so increased consumption among populations in Europe or North America may be favourable."
Victoria Miller, lead study author, doctoral student, McMaster University

CTV News Channel: ‘Big piece of evidence'

Beans, black beans, lentils, peas, chickpeas and black-eyed peas are all in the legume family of whole-food nutrients. They are consumed, with their high protein and carbohydrate components as substitutes or alternatives to more costly meat, or in place of grains and starches like pasta and bread.
The Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology study engaged with over 135,000 participants from 18 low-income, middle-income and high-income countries.

Those participating in the study were asked for their diet details. They were followed, for study purposes, for an average of 7-1/2 years. Among the study's findings is that contrary to current nutritional standards, consuming a higher fat constituent in the diet (roughly analogous to 35 percent of energy) compared to lower intakes, is seen to be associated with a lower risk of death. All together, a diet including moderate fat intake along with fruits and vegetables while avoiding high carbohydrate consumption is recognized as being associated with lower death risk.

Spending more time in the produce aisle could not only lead to a healthier body, but a better state of mind, according to a new study. (corepics/shutterstock.com)

Consequently, the study concludes, a diet high in carbohydrates (resulting in over 60 percent of energy derivation) relates to elevated mortality, outside the risk of cardiovascular disease. The focus on dietary fats yielded the conclusion there is no association with major cardiovascular disease; on the contrary, higher fat consumption reflected an association with lower mortality, irrespective of the type of fats, including saturated fats, polyunsaturated fats and mono unsaturated fats, while saturated fats are recognized with lower stroke risk.

While conventional dietary guidelines have for decades stressed total fat reduction to under 30 percent of daily caloric intake, and saturated fat to under ten percent of caloric intake, the reverse appears to be the reality. The commonly accepted theory was that reducing saturated fat would reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, not taking into account what replaces saturated fat in the diet. And that was generally carbohydrates making up the difference.

The study, published in The Lancet, also concluded that global intake of fruits, vegetables and legumes represents between three to four servings daily (or the equivalent of 375 to 500 grams of fruits, vegetables and legumes per day), with no benefit recognized in consuming greater amounts of each in the daily diet. Additionally, consuming at the very least one serving per day of legumes was seen to decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease and death.

"Moderation in most aspects of diet is to be preferred, as opposed to very low or very high intakes of most nutrients", cautioned Salim Yusuf, director of the Population Health Research Institute at McMaster University.

Avocados, as well as nuts and vegetable and olive oils, contain monounsaturated fat. A study linked eating a moderate amount of all types of fats with a reduced risk of early mortality compared to a low-fat diet.  (Getty Images/iStockphoto) 

"[This research represents] an impressive undertaking that will contribute to public health for years to come."
"The relationships between diet, cardiovascular disease and death are topics of major public health importance.... Initial PURE findings challenge conventional diet-disease tenets that are largely based on observational associations in European and North American populations, adding to the uncertainty about what constitutes a healthy diet. This uncertainty is likely to prevail until well-designed randomized controlled trials are done."
Drs. Christopher Ramsden and Anthony Domenichiello, U.S. National Institute on Aging