The vilification of carbohydrates has been a very vocal pursuit. Unless you don't expose yourself to the nutrition information offered in popular magazines, social media and conventional media, you have probably encountered the attack on carbohydrates. This, of course, has come with increasing popularity of low carbohydrate diets, and even more "extreme" versions of these diets, such as the ketogenic diet, or even the carnivore diet. 

 

Proponents of such dietary practices often (not always) follow such diets from a position of believing that carbohydrates are an unhealthy component of the diet. This is largely untrue...

 

Is it fair to say that diets very high in sugar are likely to be less healthful than those low in sugar, on average? Yes, that's a fair point. 

 

Is it fair to say that diets very high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes are likely to be less healthful than diets based primarily on protein and fat, with little of the above? No, that's not very likely at all. 

 

Anyway, to get to the crux of this email, a recent paper published in The Lancet discusses a series of systematic reviews and meta-analyses on Carbohydrate Quality and Human Health. While this is not new information by any means, it is worth considering some of the results. In short, there was a pretty clear relationship between dietary fibre and/or whole grain intake and the incidence of common non-communicable diseases, along with all cause mortality. Take a look at the images below!