June 11, 2012 A 25 year study in Northern Sweden, published in
BioMed Central's open access journal Nutrition Journal, is the
first to show that a regional and national dietary intervention
to reduce fat intake, decreased cholesterol levels, but a switch
to the popular low carbohydrate diet was paralleled by in an
increase in cholesterol levels. Over the entire 25 year period
the population BMI continued to increase, regardless of either
diet, and both the increase in body mass and increased
cholesterol levels are indicators of increased cardiovascular
risk. In the 1970's it was noticed that the incidence of
cardiovascular disease was higher in northern Sweden than
anywhere else in the country and that for men it was amongst the
highest in the world. The Västerbotten Intervention Programme
(VIP) was set up in 1985 to address this and was later extended
to include the entire country. The VIP included better food
labelling, healthy information, cooking demonstrations and
health examinations and counselling, inc