Health Effects of Low-Carbohydrate Diets: Where Should New Research Go?

Abstract

There has been considerable debate about the metabolic effects of restricting carbohydrate intake in weight and diabetes management. However, the American Diabetes Association has noted that weight and metabolic improvements can be achieved with low carbohydrate, low fat (implicitly higher carbohydrate), or a Mediterranean style diet (usually an intermediate level of carbohydrate). Our paper addresses variability in the definition for low or restricted carbohydrate, the effects of carbohydrate restriction on diabetes-related health outcomes, strategies for restricting carbohydrate intake, and potential genetic variability in response to dietary carbohydrate restriction. Issues for future research are also addressed.

A Ketogenic Diet in Rodents Elicits Improved Mitochondrial Adaptations in Response to Resistance Exercise Training Compared to an Isocaloric Western Diet

“…Low carbohydrate ketogenic diets (KD) that induce nutritional ketosis have been successfully utilized in the treatment of multiple health disorders ranging from obesity to neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease (Gasior et al, 2006; Wylie-Rosett et al, 2013; Paoli, 2014). Although many of these disorders are also associated with mitochondrial dysfunction (Kelley et al, 2002; Ritov et al, 2005; Lin and Beal, 2006), the majority of previous research regarding mitochondrial function and a KD has been centered around the effects of a KD on neuronal tissue in the brain.…”

Nutritional and Pharmacological Strategies of Bodybuilders in Preparation Period for Competition

“…In the present study, the mean intake of the sample was around 1.68 g/kg body weight, which was much lower than that recommended by the ISSN, as well as that recommended by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) of 8 to 12 grams per kilogram of weight per day [19], considering that the average weight of the interviewees was between 88.2 kg (men) and 60.8 kg (women), the interviewers did not reach 150 g of carbohydrates per day. For example, a diet containing 200 grams of carbohydrate might be classified as moderately low for a 2,000-calorie intake, moderate carbohydrate at 1,500 calories and high-carbohydrate at 1,200 calories [20], in our study the mean values of ingested calories were 2177,4 calories (in both men and women), in this way, low carbohydrate diet was consumed for our participants.…”

Trials of Diets for Treatment of Diabetes : A comparison of diets for treatment of type 2 diabetes, aspects on long and short term effects

“…In recent years several review articles on low-carbohydrate diets in various respects has been published [90][91][92][93] . There are different conclusions in these articles about the advantages and disadvantages of low-carbohydrate diets, which may seem somewhat contradictory but it is essential to note that various types of low-carbohydrate diets with different macronutrient content are included in the analysis.…”