Low Carb Diets Offer Health Benefits

Low carb diets offer a variety of health benefits, both short and long-term. Researchers continue to study low-carb diets both for their efficacy and their health effects.

Examples of demonstrated health benefits include:

Lower Cholesterol

A study published in the Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology showed reductions in total cholesterol, LDL (bad) cholesterol and systolic blood pressure.

Managing Diabetes

A small study from Sweden suggests such a diet may be one of the best ways to manage Diabetes and reduce the need for medication. In the study, 16 obese patients with type 2 diabetes followed a calorie- and carbohydrate-restricted diet for 22 months. Most showed continuing improvements in blood sugar that were independent of weight loss; the average daily dosage of insulin among the 11 insulin-dependent patients was cut in half.

"Many people are essentially cured of their [type 2] diabetes by low-carbohydrate diets, but that message is not getting out," says low-carb proponent and biochemistry professor Richard Feinman, PhD, of the SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Weight Control

Improved weight control may be a result of reduced hunger and fewer appetite swings due to more stable blood glucose levels. In the Nutrition Journal, researchers from SUNY Downstate Medical Center show that low-carbohydrate, high-protein diets can be expected to be more effective for weight loss than low-fat diets.

If you're interested in trying a low-carbohydrate diet, be sure to work with your health care provider so potential side effects can be monitored.

Krauss, Ronald, et al. “Carbohydrate, Weight Loss, and Atherogenic Dyslipidemia.” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2006 May;83(5):1025-31.

 

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