The low-carbohydrate diet and cardiovascular risk factors: evidence from epidemiologic studies
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Aims Obesity is an important public health issue because of its high prevalence and concomitant increase in risk of cardiovascular diseases. Low carbohydrate diets are popular for weight loss and weight management but are not recommended in leading guidelines due to the perception that increases in dietary fat intake may lead to an adverse cardiovascular risk profile. To clarify the effects of a low-carbohydrate diet for weight loss on cardiovascular disease risk factors as compared to a low fat diet for weight loss, we systematically reviewed data from randomized controlled clinical trials and large observational studies.Data synthesis We searched the MEDLINE database (Jan 1966-Nov 2013) to identify studies that examined a low-carbohydrate diet as compared to a low-fat diet for weight loss or the improvement of cardiovascular disease risk factors.Conclusions Recent randomized controlled trials document that low-carbohydrate diets not only decrease body weight but also improve cardiovascular risk factors. In light of this evidence from randomized controlled trials, dietary guidelines should be re-visited advocating a healthy low carbohydrate dietary pattern as an alternative dietary strategy for the prevention of obesity and cardiovascular disease risk factors.
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A number of studies documented benefits of lower-carbohydrate diets for weight loss and improved metabolic health in healthy individuals.
“A number of studies documented the benefits of lower-carbohydrate diets on measures of metabolic health and medication use in patients with T2D (6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11) and for weight loss and improved metabolic health in healthy individuals (12).”
From A Lower-Carbohydrate, Higher-Fat Diet Reduces Abdominal and Intermuscular Fat and Increases Insulin Sensitivity in Adults at Risk of Type 2 Diabetes (2015) · cites this paper as [12]
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References 104 · Cited by 112
- Authors
- Hu, T., & Bazzano, L. A.
- Affiliations
- Tulane University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Bazzano, L.A.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Nutrition Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2014-04
- Volume
- 24
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 337-343
- ISSN
- 0939-4753 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4351995
- OpenAlex
- W2092681096
- Cited by
- 112
- References
- 104
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 4
- FWCI
- 1.37
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Nutrition Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Center for Research Resources (P20RR017659)
- 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
- low-carbohydrate diet, cardiovascular risk factors, obesity, weight loss, low-fat diet, dietary fat intake, cardiovascular disease prevention, dietary guidelines, body weight
- MeSH terms
- Cardiovascular Diseases, Humans, Obesity, Risk Factors, Weight Loss, Treatment Outcome, Risk Assessment, Risk Reduction Behavior, Diet, Carbohydrate-Restricted
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