The New Complete Book of Food
low-fiber diet. Because this study contradicts literally hundreds of others conducted over
the past thirty years, researchers are awaiting confirming evidence before changing dietary
recommendations.
However, early the following year, new data from the long-running Nurses’ Health
Study at Harvard School of Public Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, in Boston,
showed no difference in the risk of colon cancer between women who ate a high-fiber diet
and those who did not. Nonetheless, many nutrition researchers remain wary of ruling out
a protective effect for dietary fiber. They note that there are different kinds of dietary fiber
that may have different effects, that most Americans do not consume a diet with the rec-
ommended amount of dietary fiber, and that gender, genetics, and various personal health
issues may also affect the link between dietary fiber and the risk of colon cancer. NOTE:
The current recommendations for dietary fiber consumption are 25 grams per day for women
younger than 50, and 21 grams per day for women older than 50; 38 grams per day for men
younger than 50, and 30 grams per day for men older than 50.
As a source of increased energy for athletes. When we eat carbohydrates, our bodies break
them down into glycogen, which is stored in our muscles. When we need energy we convert
the stored glycogen to glucose, the fuel on which our bodies run. Athletes who engage in the
kind of strenuous exercise that can lead to exhaustion in 45 minutes need more glycogen than
people who lead sedentary lives. Without the extra glycogen, they will run out of energy in
midgame or midmarathon. One way to increase the amount of glycogen in the muscles is to
increase the amount of high-carbohydrate foods, such as pasta, in the diet, a regimen known
as carbohydrate loading. The classic carbohydrate-loading diet developed in Scandinavia in
the 1960s calls for two days on a very low-carbohydrate diet plus very heavy exercise to
deplete the muscles’ normal store of glycogen, followed by three days of very little exercise
and a diet which is 70 to 90 percent carbohydrates. Because so many athletes are reluctant to
stop exercising for three days before an event, a modified version of this regime, developed
at Ball State University in Indiana, suggests two days on a normal diet with normal to heavy
exercise, then three days on a diet very high in carbohydrates while exercise tapers down to
nothing on the day before the event. According to a number of studies by sports-medicine
researchers, both versions of the carbohydrate-loading diet appear to increase the amount of
glycogen in the athlete’s muscles and thus to increase long-term stamina.
As a source of carbohydrates for people with diabetes. Pasta is digested very slowly, producing
only a gradual rise in blood-sugar levels. As a result, the body needs less insulin to control
blood sugar after eating pasta than after eating some other high-carbohydrate foods (rice,
bread, or corn). In studies at the University of Kentucky, a bean, whole-grain, vegetable, and
fruit-rich diet developed at the University of Toronto and recommended by the American
Diabetes Association enabled patients with type 1 diabetes (who do not produce any insulin
themselves) to cut their daily insulin intake by 38 percent. For patients with type 2 diabetes
(who can produce some insulin), the bean diet reduced the need for injected insulin by 98
percent. This diet is in line with the nutritional guidelines of the American Diabetes Asso-
ciation, but people with diabetes should always consult their doctor and/or dietitian before
altering their diet.