Although the long-term effectiveness remains to be proven, a large percentage of the population, in some surveys as much as 25%, claims to be watching its carbohydrate intake. Thus, people have been led to believe that highly nutritious, carbohydrate-based foods such as carrots, oatmeal and other cereals are culpable causes of fatness. They also believe that expunging these foods is the key to a sylph-like self. To add to the misconceptions, advertising campaigns are touting high fat, deep fried entrées as being low-carb and somewhat healthful.
This diet paradigm is in stark contrast with a body of knowledge showing that diets with carbohydrates impart health benefits and help with weight maintenance. For instance, an analysis of the diets of 600 children, aged 4-12 years old, demonstrated that children who normally ingest eight or more servings of ready-to-eat cereal in 14 days, were 75% less likely to be overweight than those who consumed three or fewer servings of cereal. Half of the children who were in the group that seldom ate cereal were overweight. This study included all types of cereal, such as whole grain and pre-sweetened cereals. Frequent cereal eaters also were shown to consume less fat and cholesterol and more vitamin A, calcium, iron, zinc, and several B vitamins.4 Similar results were shown in a study of over 74,000 middle-aged women. Those who ate more fiber-rich grains—such as oatmeal and whole-grain breakfast cereals—gained less weight over the 12 years of the study than did women who ingested the least amount of fiber. Also, they were half as likely as those with the lowest intake to become obese.5 The opposite was true if the diets were heavy in refined-grain products like white bread and pasta.