Is eliminating carbohydrates from the diet or reducing them to a minimum in a diet harmful to health? Doing so is nonsense according to Andrea Ghiselli, director of the Masters in Food Science and Dietetics at Unitelma Sapienza in Rome because in the average Italian diet we are already below the 50% energy threshold. By removing the energy from carbohydrates, one would get it from alcohol, fat or protein. Making it from alcohol is unhealthy, as it is carcinogenic. If you take from fat you need to understand which fats: Meat, cheese? Nuts? Oil? The first three, says Ghiselli, also bring proteins with them and these are not clean energy, but quite dirty, because they serve as building material, but if they are demolished for energy purposes from their metabolism, significant quantities of ammonia derive which must be managed. Ghiselli underlines that the maximum life expectancy is obtained with diets that take half energy from carbohydrates which, for an average requirement of 2000 kcal, are 1000, therefore 250 grams of carbohydrates. If you take only 50 from cereals, a quota of about 200 grams remains uncovered. (LaPresse/AP)