Willett Walter C
Harvard School of Public Health, Department of Nutrition, 665 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2008;17 Suppl 1:1-4.
For the last decade, the focus of nutritional advice for prevention of chronic disease has been to limit or reduce total fat intake and to consume large amounts of carbohydrate. However, this advice is inconsistent with many lines of evidence indicating that unsaturated fats have beneficial metabolic effects and reduce risk of coronary heart disease. More recent evidence has also shown that the large majority of carbohydrates in Western diets, consisting of refined starches and sugars, have adverse metabolic effects and increase risks of coronary heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Unfortunately, a major opportunity for health improvement has been lost by failing to distinguish healthy from unhealthy forms of carbohydrates and fats. Recent analyses indicate that moderate changes in diet, together with regular physical activity and not smoking, can prevent the large majority of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and some forms of cancer. These findings have substantial relevance for many populations in Asia, where incidence of type 2 diabetes is rising rapidly.
在过去十年中，预防慢性病的营养建议重点一直是限制或减少总脂肪摄入量，并大量摄入碳水化合物。然而，这一建议与许多证据相矛盾，这些证据表明不饱和脂肪具有有益的代谢作用，并能降低冠心病风险。最近的证据还表明，西方饮食中的绝大多数碳水化合物，由精制淀粉和糖组成，具有不良的代谢作用，并会增加冠心病和2型糖尿病的风险。不幸的是，由于未能区分碳水化合物和脂肪的健康形式与不健康形式，改善健康的一个主要机会已经丧失。最近的分析表明，适度改变饮食，加上定期体育锻炼和不吸烟，可以预防绝大多数心脏病、2型糖尿病和某些形式的癌症。这些发现与亚洲的许多人群密切相关，在亚洲，2型糖尿病的发病率正在迅速上升。
