Low-Carb Diet Helps to Improve Cholesterol Profile
13 years, 8 months ago
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Posted on Aug 17, 2010, 6 a.m.
Temple University (US) team reports that a diet restrictive of carbohydrates markedly improves HDL (“good”) cholesterol levels.
Temple University (Pennsylvania, USA) researchers completed a two-year long study that compared the effects of a low carbohydrate versus low-fat diet, on weight and cardiovascular fitness. Gary Foster and colleagues enrolled 307 men and women, average age 45.5 years, with a mean BMI of 36.1 kg/m2, and followed the subjects’ weight changes, body composition, serum lipids, blood pressure, and other metabolic markers. During the first 6 months of the study, the low-carbohydrate diet group experienced greater reductions in diastolic blood pressure, triglyceride levels, and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol levels, as well as increased HDL (“good”) cholesterol levels; these benefits persisted for the remainder of the study. Most notably, the HDL improvement reached a 23% increase at the 2-year mark.
Gary D. Foster, Holly R. Wyatt, James O. Hill, Angela P. Makris, Diane L. Rosenbaum, Carrie Brill, Richard I. Stein, B. Selma Mohammed, Bernard Miller, Daniel J. Rader, Babette Zemel, Thomas A. Wadden, Thomas Tenhave, Craig W. Newcomb, Samuel Klein. “Weight and Metabolic Outcomes After 2 Years on a Low-Carbohydrate Versus Low-Fat Diet: A Randomized Trial.” Ann Intern Med, 153:147-157, August 3, 2010.
