A high-carbohydrate diet is a doubled-edged sword. Eating the right types of carbohydrates may help you lose weight and reduce your risk of chronic diseases. If you consume the wrong types of carbohydrates, the diet could cause you to gain weight and increase your health risks. Carbohydrates are a macronutrient that provides sugar for your body to convert to energy. Consult a nutritionist about the benefits and risks of a high-carbohydrate diet.
Pro: Mange Porphyria
A high-carbohydrate diet can help manage the symptoms associated with porphyria cutanea tarda, or PCT. PCT is a liver disease that results from a deficiency of an enzyme called uroporphyrinogen decarboxylase, or UROD, and causes an accumulation of normal body chemicals called porphyrins. PCT becomes active when iron, alcohol, hepatitis C virus, HIV and estrogen together cause a deficiency of UROD in the liver. The condition causes your urine and skin to become purple. Research by scientists at Baltic Humanistic University in Poland, published in "Medical Science Monitor" in 2001, discovered that a high-carbohydrate diet involving fruits and vegetables has beneficial effects on patients with PCT including reduced urinary excretions of porphyrins and decreased skin lesions.
Pro: Reduced Risk of Heart Disease
A diet high in complex carbohydrates can help you lose weight and reduce your risk of heart disease. The key is to consume complex carbohydrates that include whole grains, such as brown rice, whole wheat and barley. Complex carbohydrates have a low glycemic index, a measurement of how fast sugar enters your blood. The Pritikin diet, designed to help people lose weight and reduce risks of heart disease, is based on a diet high in complex carbohydrates and low in fat, processed foods and sweetened beverages.
Con: Fat Gain
Not all carbohydrates are created equal. High amounts of refined and processed carbohydrate foods and sweetened beverages may increase your weight. Excess sugars from processed carbohydrates that are not metaboilized for energy are converted to fat. Research by scientists at the Hawthorn House in Wellingborough in the United Kingdom, published in "Medical Hypotheses" in 2007, reports that carbohydrates are potential sources of fat production and stored fat in the body and can lead to weight gain.
Con: High Blood Sugar
High glycemic carbohydrates, such as processed or refined grains, are absorbed quickly and may increase your blood glucose levels. Research by Scientists at Vanderebilt University Medical Center and published in "Archives of Internal Medicine" in 2007 studied the effects of a diet among Chinese women with no history of diabetes who consume high amounts of rice and discovered that a high intake of foods with a high glycemic index, such as rice, may increase the risk of type 2 diabetes.
References
- American Porphyria Foundation: Porphyria Cutanea Tarda
- PubMed: Effect of High Fiber Vegetable-Fruit Diet on the Activity of Liver Damage and Serum Iron Level in Porphyria Cutanea Tarda
- Harvard Medical School: Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load for 100+ Foods
- Health.com: The Pritikin Weight Loss Breakthrough
- PubMed: Obesity - a Perspective Based on the Biochemical Interrelationship of Lipids and Carbohydrates
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