November, 2002

At the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions in Chicago held this month, Duke researcher, Eric Westman, M.D., M.H.S., presented preliminary results on his soon-to-be-published study, "Effect of a Low-Carbohydrate Ketogenic Diet Program on Fasting Lipid Subfractions". The two-arm randomized, controlled study examined a group of overweight individuals with elevated cholesterol and triglyceride levels who were put on either a low-fat, low-calorie, high-carbohydrate diet or a low-carbohydrate, ketogenic diet that was supplemented with a formula containing fish, borage and flaxseed oil. While both groups of dieters lost weight, the low-carbohydrate dieters outperformed the low-fat group by 5% in 24 weeks on the program.

Both programs benefited cholesterol levels by lowering the LDL (bad cholesterol), but only the low-carbohydrate program showed a major decrease in the ratio of triglycerides to HDL (good cholesterol), another documented risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The ratio was reduced by an impressive 53% in the low-carbohydrate group versus only 6% in the low-fat group.

Dr. Westman is the author of "Effect of 6-Month Adherence to a Very Low Carbohydrate Diet Program", published in the American Journal of Medicine, July 2002, which reported on a six month weight-loss study that monitored 50 subjects who were following low-carbohydrate, ketogenic program. Data gathered included the results of laboratory tests, weight/waist measurements, diet composition, symptoms and side effects. The results showed that low- carbohydrate, ketogenic program is not only effective in weight loss and management, but manifests significant improvement in a number of cardiovascular disease risk factors.