A Randomized Trial of a Low-Carbohydrate Diet for Obesity

• Published in: The New England journal of medicine Vol. 348; no. 21; pp. 2082 - 2090
• Main Authors: Foster, Gary D, Wyatt, Holly R, Hill, James O, McGuckin, Brian G, Brill, Carrie, Mohammed, B. Selma, Szapary, Philippe O, Rader, Daniel J, Edman, Joel S, Klein, Samuel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston, MA Massachusetts Medical Society 22.05.2003
• Subjects: Adult; Analysis of Variance; Biological and medical sciences; Body Mass Index; Carbohydrates; Clinical trials; Coronary Disease; Diet; Diet, Fat-Restricted; Diet, Reducing - methods; Dietary Carbohydrates - administration & dosage; Female; Glucose - metabolism; Humans; Lipoproteins - blood; Male; Medical sciences; Metabolic diseases; Middle Aged; Obesity; Obesity - blood; Obesity - diet therapy; Risk Factors; Triglycerides - blood; Weight Loss; Human; Obesity; Prognosis; Diet therapy; Follow up study; Nutrition disorder; Controlled therapeutic trial; Lipids; Carbohydrate; Restricted diet; Nutritional status
• ISSN: 0028-4793; 1533-4406
• DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa022207

In a one-year trial, 63 obese men and women were assigned to either a low-carbohydrate, high-protein, high-fat diet or a conventional high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet. Participants who followed the low-carbohydrate diet had lost more weight at three and six months than those on the conventional diet, but the differences had abated by one year. The low-carbohydrate diet was associated with a greater improvement in some risk factors for coronary heart disease. Adherence to either diet was poor, and dropout rates were high. More weight loss than with a conventional diet, but dropout rates were high. At any given time, approximately 45 percent of women and 30 percent of men in the United States are trying to lose weight. 1 Despite these efforts, the prevalence of obesity has doubled in the past 20 years 2 and has become a major public health problem. 3 The conventional dietary approach to weight management, recommended by the leading research and medical societies, 4 – 7 is a high-carbohydrate, low-fat, energy-deficit diet. Low-carbohydrate, high-protein, high-fat diets have become increasingly popular, and many best-selling diet books have promoted this approach. 8 , 9 The Atkins diet, originally published in 1973 and again in 1992 and 2002, may be . . .