Low-Carb Diet Not a Heart Risk

Nov. 8, 2006 <p> -- LOW-CARB EATING NO HEART RISK A new study tracking more than 80,000 nurses finds that women who said they ate diets low in carbohydrates did not have greater heart disease than women who didn't eat low-carb diets. There has been some concern among doctors and researchers that replacing carbohydrates with fat and protein might increase a person's heart risk.

Published in the New England Journal of Medicine, this new study suggests that heart risk does not go up. In fact, women who replaced carbohydrates with healthy fats, such as those found in nuts and vegetable oils, actually had about a 30 percent reduced risk of heart disease. But the results are far from definitive. These women were not necessarily on "low-carb diets" with weight loss in mind, and their eating habits were assessed infrequently. In large studies such as these, it is difficult to know how factors such as genetics or other healthy behaviors may influence the outcome.

HEAVY SMOKING HARD on UTERUS Heavy smoking may negatively affect female fertility by making the uterus less receptive and reducing the chances that an embryo will implant, European researchers find. They compared pregnancy rates between heavy smokers and lighter smokers, all of whom were undergoing implantation with a donated egg.

More than 2½ years, 741 nonheavy smokers, defined as smoking fewer than 10 cigarettes per day, and 44 heavy smokers, defined as smoking more than 10 cigarettes a day, underwent IVF.

Just more than half of the nonheavy smokers became pregnant compared to about one-third of the heavy smokers. These results were published in the most recent issue of Human Reproduction.

STAT is a brief look at the latest medical research and is compiled by Joanna Schaffhausen, who holds a doctorate in behavioral neuroscience. She works in the ABC News Medical Unit, evaluating medical studies, abstracts and news releases.