The question? Researchers and dieters alike have debated which diet is better for weight loss – low fat or low carb? Dieters on each side would swear by the one that they chose. Now researchers have some answers:
The Annals of Internal Medicine reported the outcomes in a recent 2 year study. Weight at the end of 2 years was the primary outcome. Secondary measures included weight at 3, 6, and 12 months and cholesterol (serum lipid concentrations), blood pressure, urinary ketones, symptoms, bone mineral density, and body composition. Both diets improved systolic blood pressure, triglyceride levels and low density lipid cholesterol level. However, the low carb diet showed greater reductions in many of these measures at 6 months. The low-carbohydrate diet group also had greater increases in high-density lipoprotein (good) cholesterol levels at all time points, approximating a 23% increase at 2 years.
The results? It seems that weight loss was equally effective at the 2 year mark. Participants lost an average of 24 pounds after 1 year and at 2 years, they were able to keep off 15 of those pounds.
The Conclusion: You can achieve successful weight loss with either a low-fat or low-carbohydrate diet when coupled with behavioral treatment. However, if you are wanting to improve your overall heart health, the low carb diet was associated with more favorable changes in cardiovascular disease risk factors at 2 years.
One difference in this study compared to others that looked at diet differences was the addition of a comprehensive lifestyle modification program. More on this to come………………….
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