Introduction: The High-Fat Low-Carbohydrate diet is a regime that restricts carbohydrate intake in the diet to a minimum in order to maintain a constant level of the insulin hormone. In this way, the body receives energy primarily by oxidation of fat and less through amino acids.
Material and methods: We summarized data from online researches of the National Institutes of Health, the journal of paediatrics and the New England journal of medicine and compared their results and statistics to each other.
Results: After 12 months the overall 306 participants of the low carbohydrate diet lost 3,5 kg of mean fat mass, decreased their weight by 2,8%, decreased the ratio of High-Density Lipoprotein/ Cholesterol levels by 0,44, but had an increase in Cholesterol HDL levels by 0.18 mmol/L compared to the participants of the low-fat diet and had mean blood sugar levels of 83mg/dl.
Conclusion: All three surveys underline that the low carbohydrate diet reduces the weight of all participants and keeps their blood sugar levels in a healthy range more effectively than the low fat diet. The low intake of carbohydrates leads to an increased rate of fatty oxidation, because most volunteers lost fat if they did lose any weight at all. This indicates that the low carbohydrate diet is an optimal solution in preventing type 2 diabetes, but does not ensure the same for candidates who have a history with diabetes, since none of the participants had any sickness from previous diets. The increase in Cholesterol on the other hand leaves room for discussions on other potential dangers of cardiovascular diseases like atherosclerosis.
