Thread by @bigfatsurprise

New paper: shows how a low-carb diet could be a viable, affordable option for the US Dietary Guidelines.
USDA needs a low-carb option, because its current 3 "dietary patterns" are 52-56% of calories as carbs.
What would a low-carb option look like? 🧵
frontiersin.org/articles/10.33…

--Far fewer grains. Grains just turn to sugar in the body
--No refined grains (duh)
--Far less dairy (this surprised me)
--Much more protein (the current amount in the guidelines is a bare minimum but not enough for kids, elderly and other groups)

More veggies!
--A lot more green, red and orange vegetables
--More beans, peas and lentils (? bc carb-rich)
--Fewer starchy vegetables. Starch --> sugar in the body

Shocker for me was increase in oils, but I guess these authors are not taking on the saturated-fat issue. Added fat should be natural fats, like butter, tallow, etc, which unlike oils, don't oxidize or cause inflammation.
Study funded by Simply Good Foods (formerly Atkins)

Paper has health disparities data. Eg: In 2017– 2018, prevalence of optimal metabolic health was... 38% lower in Mexican Americans compared with non-Hispanic White adults.
Also, black and Hispanic Americans make up more than 75% of overweight and obese Americans

Cost data:
In last 50y, federal healthcare spending has risen from 5 to 28% of the federal budget.
U.S. business (inflation-adjusted) spending on health care inc'd from $79 to $1,180 billion.
>1/2 of total federal healthcare spending is for treating diet-related diseases in 2018