A recent study suggests a low-carb diet is more effective for weight loss and reducing cardiovascular risks than a low-fat one.
One-third of all American adults suffer from cardiovascular disease, which cause one-third of all deaths in the same bracket, the American College of Physicians reported.
Low-carb diets have been a common weight loss approach, but their cardiovascular benefits have been largely unmeasured. To make their findings researchers randomly assigned 148 men and women without traces of cardiovascular disease or diabetes to follow either a low carbohydrate (less than 40 grams per day) or low fat (less than 30 percent calories from fat) diet. All of the participants were considered to be obese and just over half of the participants were black.
One year later both black and white participants in the low-carb diet had a greater decrease in "weight, fat mass, and other cardiovascular risk factors" than those in the low-fat group.
The low-fat group lost an average of about four pounds while the low-carb group lost about 12 pounds, NPR reported. The low-carb dieters generally ate eggs in the morning or small portions high-protein high-fiber bread with buttery spreads. For lunch and dinner they typically ate a variety of vegetables, salads as well as proteins like fish or chicken; healthy fats such as olive and canola oils were also encouraged.
"It's a double-whammy for weight gain," Ludwig says. "We've been told for decades that if you don't want fat on your body, don't put fat into your body. It's a very appealing notion, but the problem is it's wrong," study author David Ludwig of Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital told NPR.
The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal Annals of Internal Medicine
