Low-Fat Diet Flop Is No Reason To Go Hog-Wild

By Jordan Lite, Daily News Staff Writer

Originally published by The New York Daily News [Sports Final Edition], Thursday, February 9, 2006.

ARE YOU DROWNING your sorrow in French fries over news that a low-fat diet doesn't prevent heart disease or cancer?

Don't.

There's more to staying healthy than a low-fat diet, doctors say. Keeping trim, exercising, limiting the alcohol you drink and not smoking all work together to keep away deadly illnesses.

"The benefits are going to be small, but they will add up, and it's your life that's at stake," said Dr. Marisa Weiss, president of Breastcancer.org.

A study in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association showed that postmenopausal women who ate a low-fat diet had no less risk of heart attacks, strokes, breast or colon cancer than those who ate differently.

But the study didn't differentiate between the types of fats women ate. Many doctors now advocate a Mediterranean-style diet high in mono- and polyunsaturated fats such as those found in olive and canola oils, almonds, walnuts and fish.

Doctors suggest avoiding the trans-fats in margarine, the saturated fats in red meats, and the simple sugars packed into desserts. The ingredients in those foods are not only unhealthy in themselves, but they also drive up your weight.

When you pack on the pounds, "you really increase a lot of your risk factors," said Dr. Neica Goldberg, author of "The Women's Healthy Heart Program."

Critics note that many women in the study didn't stick to the diet, and that they were followed for only eight years - possibly not long enough to see a benefit.

But among those who limited fats to 20% of their diet, weights were lower, and there was a 9% decrease in breast cancer cases.