CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 275Diet and metabolism studiesDietary Effects on HealthNutritional Studies and Diet

Comparison of high-fat and high-protein diets with a high-carbohydrate diet in insulin-resistant obese women

Open access
McAuley, K. A., Hopkins, C. M., Smith, K. J., McLay, R. T., Williams, S. M., Taylor, R. W., Mann, J. I.·2005·Diabetologia
DOI 10.1007/s00125-004-1603-4
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

Aims/hypothesis A diet low in saturated fatty acids and rich in wholegrains, vegetables and fruit is recommended in order to reduce the risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus. However there is widespread interest in high-fat ("Atkins Diet") and high-protein ("Zone Diet") alternatives to the conventional high-carbohydrate, high-fibre approach. We report on a randomised trial that compared these two alternative approaches with a conventional diet in overweight insulin-resistant women.Methods Ninety-six normoglycaemic, insulin-resistant women (BMI >27 kg/m(2)) were randomised to one of three dietary interventions: a high-carbohydrate, high-fibre (HC) diet, the high-fat (HF) Atkins Diet, or the high-protein (HP) Zone Diet. The experimental approach was designed to mimic what might be achieved in clinical practice: the recommendations involved advice concerning food choices and were not prescriptive in terms of total energy. There were supervised weight loss and weight maintenance phases (8 weeks each), but there was no contact between the research team and the participants during the final 8 weeks of the study. Outcome was assessed in terms of body composition and indicators of cardiovascular and diabetes risk.Results Body weight, waist circumference, triglycerides and insulin levels decreased with all three diets but, apart from insulin, the reductions were significantly greater in the HF and HP groups than in the HC group. These observations suggest that the popular diets reduced insulin resistance to a greater extent than the standard dietary advice did. When compared with the HC diet, the HF and HP diets were shown to produce significantly (p<0.01) greater reductions in several parameters, including weight loss (HF -2.8 kg, HP -2.7 kg), waist circumference (HF -3.5 cm, HP -2.7 cm) and triglycerides (HF -0.30 mmol/l, HP [corrected] -0.22 mmol/l). LDL cholesterol decreased in individuals on the HC and HP diets, but tended to fluctuate in those on the HF diet to the extent that overall levels were significantly lower in the HP group than in the HF group (-0.28 mmol/l, 95% CI 0.04-0.52, p=0.02). Of those on the HF diet, 25% showed a >10% increase in LDL cholesterol, whereas this occurred in only 13% of subjects on the HC diet and 3% of those on the HP diet.Conclusions/interpretation In routine practice a reduced-carbohydrate, higher protein diet may be the most appropriate overall approach to reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. To achieve similar benefits on a HC diet, it may be necessary to increase fibre-rich wholegrains, legumes, vegetables and fruits, and to reduce saturated fatty acids to a greater extent than appears to be achieved by implementing current guidelines. The HF approach appears successful for weight loss in the short term, but lipid levels should be monitored. The potential deleterious effects of the diet in the long term remain a concern.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1007/s00125-004-1603-4

Cites

33 of 33 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
McAuley, K. A., Hopkins, C. M., Smith, K. J., McLay, R. T., Williams, S. M., Taylor, R. W., & Mann, J. I.
Affiliations
University of Otago (NZ)
Corresponding author
McAuley, K. A.
ORCID
Venue
Diabetologia
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2004-12-23
Volume
48
Issue
1
Pages
8-16
ISSN
  • 0012-186X (ISSN-L)
  • 1432-0428
DOI
10.1007/s00125-004-1603-4
OpenAlex
W2133088301
Cited by
275
References
33
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 14 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 22
FWCI
12.98
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
Locations
  • Diabetologia (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • eCite Digital Repository (University of Tasmania) (submittedVersion)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
Health Research Council of New Zealand
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Diet and metabolism studies
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Dietary Effects on Health
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Nutritional Studies and Diet
Keywords
high-fat diet, high-protein diet, Atkins diet, Zone diet, high-carbohydrate diet, insulin resistance, obesity, overweight women, weight loss, weight maintenance, LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, waist circumference, body composition, cardiovascular risk, type 2 diabetes risk, dietary intervention, saturated fatty acids, whole grains, dietary fiber
MeSH terms
Calorimetry, Diet, Reducing, Dietary Carbohydrates, Dietary Fats, Dietary Proteins, Female, Humans, Insulin Resistance, Lipids, Obesity, Weight Loss, Body Mass Index, Diet, Fat-Restricted, Body Size

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review