Low-carb diet better than low-fat diet at improving metabolic syndrome

17 Nov 2005

In an article published today in the open access journal Nutrition &
Metabolism, Jeff Volek and Richard Feinman review the literature and show
that the features of metabolic syndrome are precisely those that are
improved by reducing carbohydrates in the diet. Metabolic syndrome is a
cluster of health signs that may occur together and indicate a risk for
diabetes, stroke and heart disease. The markers of metabolic syndrome - high
blood pressure, low HDL levels, high triglycerides, obesity, high blood
glucose and high insulin levels - are all improved by a low carbohydrate
diet. By contrast, the evidence shows that they are not improved, and can
even be worsened by low fat/high carbohydrate diets.

Previous research has never explicitly connected low carbohydrate intake and
improvement of metabolic syndrome. The general recommendation to patients
has been to focus on reducing fat intake. Volek et al. argue that the cause
of metabolic syndrome is linked to insulin imbalance. Carbohydrates are the
main stimulus for insulin, and reducing carbohydrate can be effective at
restoring insulin responses. So reducing carbohydrate intake, not fat
intake, should be the main aspect of treatment for metabolic syndrome, the
authors argue. This is supported by data from previous research, which shows
that carbohydrate reduction is more effective than fat reduction at
improving all the components of metabolic syndrome.

Article:
Carbohydrate restriction improves the features of Metabolic Syndrome.
Metabolic Syndrome may be defined by the response to carbohydrate
restriction
Jeff S Volek and Richard D Feinman
Nutrition & Metabolism, in press

Juliette Savin

BioMed Central
http://www.biomedcentral.com