July, 2008

A two-year study revealed that a low-carbohydrate diet may be just as safe and more effective in achieving weight loss and improved health markers as the standard, medically prescribed low-fat diet. The results of the study were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The study was conducted by BGU and the Nuclear Research Center in Dimona, Israel, in collaboration with Harvard University, The University of Leipzig, Germany and the University of Western Ontario, Canada.

The study intensely monitored 322 moderately obese people who were randomly assigned one of three diets: a low-fat, calorie-restricted diet; a Mediterranean calorie-restricted diet with the highest level of dietary fiber and monounsaturated/saturated fat; or a low-carbohydrate diet with the least amount of carbohydrates, highest fat, protein, and dietary cholesterol. The low-carb dieters had no caloric intake restrictions.

Net weight loss from the low-fat diet after two years was only 6.5 lbs. (2.9 kg) compared to 10 lbs. (4.4 kg) on the Mediterranean diet, and 10.3 lbs. (4.7 kg) on the low-carbohydrate diet.

The ratio of total cholesterol to HDL was reduced by 12 percent on the low-fat diet. But on the low-carb diet, the same ratio improved by 20 percent over the two-year period. All three diets improved liver function, but the low-carb diet did better at reducing triglycerides and, for diabetics, blood glucose levels. In fact, diabetics on the low-fat diet actually increased their fasting blood glucose levels by 12mg/dL. The Mediterranean diet also improved blood glucose levels.

The study results are significant because of the large number of participants and low drop-out rate. After two years, only 15 percent of the participants dropped out.

Researchers say the study should be enough to persuade doctors to give their patients a choice of diet rather than always recommending the standard low-fat, low-calorie diet.

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American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (2008, July 17). Low-fat Diets May Not Be Best For Weight Loss, Study Suggests. ScienceDaily. Retrieved July 17, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2008/07/080716171134.htm