A new study is flying in the face of the widely held belief that cutting carbs is the key to a successful diet. According to researchers with the National Institutes of Health, opting instead for a low-fat diet might actually lead to better fat-loss results.
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The study examined the effects of low-carb and low-fat, calorie-controlled diets on 19 obese men and women. Participants stayed at the NIH’s metabolic unit around the clock, so researchers could regulate and record everything they did – and what they ate. Each group cut their overall caloric intake by 30%, half of them by cutting carbs and half of them by cutting fat. While the reduced-carb dieters lowered their levels of insulin as well as lost slightly more weight than those who cut fat, the reduced-fat dieters actually lost more body fat than the carb-cutters.
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However, it should be noted that past research has largely pointed to low-carb diets as the better fat-burner, a fact that critics of the study are quick to mention. For example, one 2014 Annals of Internal Medicine study of 148 obese men and women found that participants who ate a low-carb diet for one year lost 7.7 pounds more than those who had been eating less fat. However, Kevin Hall, a senior investigator with the NIH’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, points out that in these longer studies, researchers can’t really be sure of what the participants were and weren’t eating over the course of the study.
So then which is better to cut?
A recent review of 59 studies on the low-carb, low-fat debate published in The Journal of the American Medical Association reported that while both diets led to significant weight loss, the low-carb diet led to moderately more pounds shed. Still, the researchers concluded that the effect was small enough that dieters are best off following the strategy that best fits their lifestyle.
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Some people find that cutting carbs is painless and can sustain the diet in the long term; for others, the thought of giving up pasta is almost too much to bear. And some associate low-fat with low-flavor and are incapable of giving that up.
ForMen takeaway:
Weight loss studies are always contradicting each other. It’s hard to cull out anything definitive here except to say that reducing carbs can be good, and reducing fats can be good. It all depends on the amount, the person, the type of fat, etc. The bottom line is to choose whichever diet you can personally sustain. Generally, if you aim to eat non-processed foods, reduce your saturated fat intake and moderate your carbs, you should be good to go.
Curated Article from U.S. News
