Zero-carb_diet

A Zero-carb diet is described as human carnivorism. It excludes dietary consumption of all carbohydrates and suggests fat as the main source of energy with sufficient protein. A zero-carb diet is also a form of a ketogenic diet, any diet causing the body to go into a state of ketosis.^{[citation needed]}

History

The earliest and primary proponent was Vilhjalmur Stefansson, an Icelandic explorer who lived with the Inuit for some time and who witnessed their diet as essentially consisting of meat and fish, with very few carbohydrates during the summer in the form of berries. Stefansson and a friend later volunteered for a one year experiment at Bellevue Hospital in New York to prove that he could thrive on a diet of nothing but meat, meat fat and internal organs of animals.jbc.org His progress was closely monitored and experiments were done on his health throughout the year. At the end of the year, he did not show any symptoms of ill health, including scurvy, which was supposed by many scientists to manifest itself only a few months into the diet due to the lack of Vitamin C in muscle meat. However, Stefansson and his partner did not eat just muscle meat - they ate fat, brain, liver, and other varieties of "meat."biblelife.org

Criticism

According to Alexander Ströhle, Maike Wolters and Andreas Hahn,Ströhle A, Wolters M, Hahn A. (January 2007). "Carbohydrates and the diet-atherosclerosis connection--more between earth and heaven. Comment on the article "The atherogenic potential of dietary carbohydrate"". Prev Med. 44 (1): 82–4. doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2006.08.014. PMID 16997359.  hunters like the Inuits, who traditionally obtain most of their dietary energy from wild animals and therefore eat a low-carbohydrate dietHo KJ, Mikkelson B, Lewis LA, Feldman SA, Taylor CB. (1972 Aug). "Alaskan arctic Eskimo: responses to a customary high fat diet". Am J Clin Nutr 25 (8): 737–45. PMID 5046723.  seem to have a high mortality from coronary heart disease.Bjerregaard P, Young TK, Hegele RA (February 2003). "Low incidence of cardiovascular disease among the Inuit--what is the evidence?". Atherosclerosis 166 (2): 351–7. doi:10.1016/S0021-9150(02)00364-7. PMID 12535749. 

References

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