Low Fat Versus Low Carb: Long Term Results


Low fat diet craze is over and the low carb diet popularity is on decline but researchers keep publishing results of the studies that started almost 10 years ago. When first short term clinical trials revealed that the Atkins diet is safe and efficient, low fat gurus suggested that we wait for several years to see how their approach will win on the long run. Now, our wait seem to be over -- one of the leading American medical journals, JAMA, published results of their 7.5-year long trial. So were the low fat gurus right? Doesn't seem so.

The group of women that complied with low-fat eating plan for all these years didn't show any signs of better health than the control group eating as much fat as they pleased. What's worse, their waist-to-hip ratio increased over the years as compared with women who were not limiting their fat intake. This ratio reflects insulin sensitivity and blood sugar control -- the greater the ratio, the worse.

One possible explanation is usually, that the lower in fat a diet is, the higher it is in carbohydrates and higher intake of carbohydrates was shown to associate with higher 'bad' cholesterol and lower 'good' cholesterol. Also, diets that are higher in 'good' fats like olive oil and fatty fish seem to increase energy expenditure by increasing heat dissipation through the skin. In one study, Atkins dieters were able to eat up to 300 Cal. extra a day and still lose more weight than those in the control eating higher-carbohydrate diet.