Scientists from National Diabetic and Endocrine Center found that eating a low-carb keto diet could effectively manage obesity.
According to the National Institute of Health, being Overweight and obese are common conditions in the United States that are defined as the increase in size and amount of fat cells in the body.
Obesity is a chronic health condition that raises the risk for heart disease — the leading cause of death in the United States — and is linked to many other health problems, including type 2 diabetes and cancer.
Previous studies have compared low-carbohydrate ketogenic diets and low-caloric fat low diets in obesity management, but the findings are still controversial.
In the current study, researchers aimed to examine the effect of the low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet in weight reduction compared to the low-caloric fat low diets diet among obese adults.
This study was conducted at the National Diabetes and Endocrine Centre (NDEC), Royal Hospital, Muscat, Oman, between 2015 and 2017.
The researchers included 200 (100 in each group) obese patients with Body Mass Index (BMI) of more than 30kg/m2, who were enrolled in the study for six months of follow-up.
Follow-up outcomes included a reduction in weight, fat mass and visceral fat, blood fats, and HbA1c. HbA1c is your average blood glucose (sugar) level for the last two to three months.
Visceral body fat, also known as ‘hidden’ fat, is fat stored deep inside the belly, wrapped around the organs, including the liver and intestines.
The team found the low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet group showed a big reduction of 13.0 kg in body weight compared to 4.7 kg in the low-caloric fat low diets group.
The low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet group showed a large reduction of 4.0% in fat mass, compared to 1.4% in the low-caloric fat low diets group.
In addition, the low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet group showed a big reduction of 2.5L in visceral fat compared to 1.2L in the low-caloric fat low diets group.
Combined with a strong reduction in HbA1c with 0.69% in the low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet and a reduction of 0.74% in low-caloric fat low diets.
Furthermore, this diet has not increased blood fat with a mean reduction of 0.19 mmol/L in total cholesterol and a mean change of 0.04 mmol/L in LDL level.
In addition, it has not increased uric acid with a mean reduction of 20.8 umol/L.
Based on the findings, the team suggests that a low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet seems superior to low-caloric fat low diets in weight, fat mass, and visceral fat reduction.
In addition, this diet does not increase serum cholesterol and uric acid, which encourages the use of this diet in obesity management.
The research was published in Clinical Nutrition ESPEN and conducted by Khadija Sulaiman Al Aamri et al.
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