The latest issue of Am Jour Clin Nutrition
reports Harvard study showing higher protein intake
associated with reduced risk of heart disease among women.
This may be first prospective cohort study showing such an effect.


From Abstract:

Results: We examined the association between dietary protein intake and
incidence of ischemic heart disease in a cohort of
80082 women aged 3459 y and without a previous diagnosis of ischemic
heart disease, stroke, cancer, hypercholesterolemia, or
diabetes in 1980. Intakes of protein and other nutrients were assessed
with validated dietary questionnaires. We documented 939
major instances of ischemic heart disease during 14 y of follow-up.
After age, smoking, total energy intake, percentages of energy
from specific types of fat, and other ischemic heart disease risk factors
were controlled for, high protein intakes were associated
with a low risk of ischemic heart disease; when extreme quintiles of total
protein intake were compared, the relative risk was 0.74
(95% CI: 0.59, 0.94). Both animal and vegetable proteins contributed to
the lower risk. This inverse association was similar in
women with low- or high-fat diets.

Conclusions: Our data do not support the hypothesis that a high protein
intake increases the risk of ischemic heart disease. In
contrast, our findings suggest that replacing carbohydrates with protein
may be associated with a lower risk of ischemic heart
disease. Because a high dietary protein intake is often accompanied by
increases in saturated fat and cholesterol intakes,
application of these findings to public dietary advice should be cautious.

[but pointing in a Paleodiet direction...]

For full text of article:

http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/70/2/221


Steve Meyers