Low-carb diets

The Annals of Internal Medicine reported a study comparing a low-carbohydrate, ketogenic diet program (i.e. Atkin’s) with those of a low-fat, low-cholesterol, reduced-calorie diet.

The study concluded the following:

Compared with a low-fat diet, a low-carbohydrate diet program had better participant retention and greater weight loss. During active weight loss, serum triglyceride levels decreased more and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level increased more with the low-carbohydrate diet than with the low-fat diet.

Here are comments from the accompanying editorial:

We can encourage overweight patients to experiment with various methods for weight control, including reduced-carbohydrate diets, as long as they emphasize healthy sources of fat and protein and incorporate regular physical activity.

So over 24-weeks, it seems that the low-carb diet is efficacious. Clearly, more studies examining the longer-term effects would be the next step to further legitimize the low-carb trend.