New Cochrane study: Low carb not superior for weight loss, CV risk

[Eddy Edson]

https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD013334.pub2/full

Key messages

• There is probably little to no difference in the weight lost by people following low‐carbohydrate weight‐reducing diets (also known as 'low‐carb diets') compared to the weight lost by people following balanced‐carbohydrate weight‐reducing diets, for up to two years.

• Similarly, there is probably little to no difference between the diets for changes in heart disease risks, like diastolic blood pressure, glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c, a measure of blood sugar levels over 2‐3 months) and LDL cholesterol (‘unhealthy’ cholesterol) up to two years.

• This was the case in people with and without type 2 diabetes.

No surprise.

 

[Alan S]

Part of the criteria: " be explicitly implemented for the primary purpose of reducing weight"

Sorry, that invalidates their blood glucose conclusions as far as I am concerned. My low carbohydrate way of eating is focused on blood glucose management; weight management is a fortunate side effect.

 

[Eddy Edson]

Part of the criteria: " be explicitly implemented for the primary purpose of reducing weight"

Sorry, that invalidates their blood glucose conclusions as far as I am concerned. My low carbohydrate way of eating is focused on blood glucose management; weight management is a fortunate side effect.

Yep, if you wanted evidence for the general non-superiority of low-carb diets for longer term BG control you'd need to look to the gadzillion other studies which address that issue directly.

 

[Burylancs]

https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD013334.pub2/full

Key messages

• There is probably little to no difference in the weight lost by people following low‐carbohydrate weight‐reducing diets (also known as 'low‐carb diets') compared to the weight lost by people following balanced‐carbohydrate weight‐reducing diets, for up to two years.

• Similarly, there is probably little to no difference between the diets for changes in heart disease risks, like diastolic blood pressure, glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c, a measure of blood sugar levels over 2‐3 months) and LDL cholesterol (‘unhealthy’ cholesterol) up to two years.

• This was the case in people with and without type 2 diabetes.

No surprise.

This is ancient history isn't it ? Larsen's Danish study in 2003 suggested low carb for weight loss did well short term but by year end all the diets were equal in weight loss. The takeaway was that any specific diet will work equally well on weight loss provided you stuck to it. And of course 'going on a diet' is a predictor of weight gain.

 

[Eddy Edson]

This is ancient history isn't it ? Larsen's Danish study in 2003 suggested low carb for weight loss did well short term but by year end all the diets were equal in weight loss. The takeaway was that any specific diet will work equally well on weight loss provided you stuck to it. And of course 'going on a diet' is a predictor of weight gain.

I think one point is that there have been lots of studies since then, and you can take this Cochrane metastudy as saying that none of this more recent work changes the picture much.