What’s better for You – low carb or low fat?

When faced with a bewildering array of diet programs, how do you know which is the best for you? Increasingly, new clinical research is being released that addresses long term benefits of low carb diets.

Liver Health

For example, low carb diet results at Southwestern Medical Center proved that patients on the low-carbohydrate diet increased fat burning throughout the entire body. Plus, the low carb diet was better for the liver. Dr. Browning said. "It appears that for the people on a low-carbohydrate diet, in order to meet that expense, their livers have to burn excess fat." The findings are significant because the accumulation of excess fat in the liver – primarily a form of fat called triglycerides – can result in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, or NAFLD. The condition is the most common form of liver disease in Western countries, and its incidence is growing. Dr. Browning has previously shown that NAFLD may affect as many as one-third of U.S. adults. The disease is associated with metabolic disorders such as insulin resistance, diabetes and obesity, and it can lead to liver inflammation, cirrhosis and liver cancer.

Heart Disease

In yet another study, low-carb diets outdid low-fat diets with respect to other blood fats related to heart disease. Triglyceride levels fell further and the HDL results were better. In the Annals study, the low-carb diet was better for blood sugar control for people with diabetes.

Decreased Insulin Levels

In other comparison study, only patients who followed the low-carb diet showed a significant decrease in circulating insulin concentrations, the researchers found. The study was conducted by researchers at the Department of Human Biology and Nutritional Sciences, University of Guelph in Ontario.

Meckling KA, O'Sullivan C, Saari D. Comparison of a low-fat diet to a low-carbohydrate diet on weight loss, body composition, and risk factors for diabetes and cardiovascular disease in free-living, overweight men and women. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 89:2717–2723, 2004

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