Low-Carb Diet Helps to Improve Cholesterol Profile

Temple University (Pennsylvania, USA) researchers completed a two-year long study that compared the effects of a low carbohydrate versus low-fat diet, on weight and cardiovascular fitness.  Gary Foster and colleagues enrolled 307 men and women, average age 45.5 years, with a mean BMI of 36.1 kg/m2, and followed the subjects’ weight changes, body composition, serum lipids, blood pressure, and other metabolic markers.  During the first 6 months of the study, the low-carbohydrate diet group experienced greater reductions in diastolic blood pressure, triglyceride levels, and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol levels, as well as increased HDL (“good”) cholesterol levels; these benefits persisted for the remainder of the study. Most notably, the HDL improvement reached a 23% increase at the 2-year mark.