Low-carbohydrate diets: An update on current research

Abstract

The diabetes and obesity epidemics have stimulated research to assess the benefits and potential risks of low-carbohydrate diets. Carbohydrate comprises less than 45% of calories in carbohydrate-restricted diets, but very low carbohydrate ketogenic diets may restrict carbohydrate to 20 g initially with variability in the carbohydrate level subsequently. Some research suggests that low-carbohydrate diets may achieve better early weight loss than comparison diets higher in carbohydrate. Studies of up to 1 year suggest that weight loss on low-carbohydrate diet is comparable with fat-restricted diets with higher carbohydrate content. Limited research has been conducted to evaluate low-carbohydrate diets in managing type 2 diabetes. Although science continues to advance in this field, current research suggests that low-carbohydrate diets can be a viable option for achieving weight loss and may have beneficial effects on glycemic control, triglyceride levels, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in some patients.

Induction of ketosis in rats fed low-carbohydrate, high-fat diets depends on the relative abundance of dietary fat and protein

“…Because ketogenic lowcarbohydrate, high-fat (LC-HF) diets have proven efficiency in the management of epilepsy, it has been suggested that other neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease might also respond well to treatment with ketogenic LC-HF diets (50). Several dietary intervention trials in overweight subjects reported that LC-HF diets exert health benefits by inducing weight loss (1,42,51). The concept of dieting by use of LC-HF diets has been largely promoted in past years (11), and these diet concepts are often known under the synonym "Atkins'-style" diets.…”

Obesity and the Cardiorenal Metabolic Syndrome: Therapeutic Modalities and Their Efficacy in Improving Cardiovascular and Renal Risk Factors

“…Multiple other studies have found that, even though a low-carbohydrate diet achieved greater weight loss at 6 months compared to a low-fat diet, the difference in weight loss was not significant at 1 year [30,31,32,33,34,35,36]. Popular low-carbohydrate diets include the Atkins diet, Bernstein diabetes diet, Caveman diet, Protein Power diet, Sonoma diet, South Beach diet, Sugar Busters diet, Zone diet, and others [35]. The effects of a low-carbohydrate diet on LDL, HDL, triglycerides, and glycemic control were not consistent in various trials and meta-analyses [35].…”

“…Popular low-carbohydrate diets include the Atkins diet, Bernstein diabetes diet, Caveman diet, Protein Power diet, Sonoma diet, South Beach diet, Sugar Busters diet, Zone diet, and others [35]. The effects of a low-carbohydrate diet on LDL, HDL, triglycerides, and glycemic control were not consistent in various trials and meta-analyses [35]. …”

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

“…There is also a number of expert briefings and meta-analyses conducted in recent years, which has identified the importance of the diet in the treatment of diabetes and for metabolic factors associated with different risk factors [52][53][54] .…”