Contrary to popular belief, a low-fat diet is actually more effective in reducing weight than a low-carb diet. These findings have been proven by research conducted at the National Institute of Health.
Researchers from the Institute debunked the theory that avoiding carbohydrates will force the fat reserves of the body to burn. They said that this theory doesn't really hold up in the metabolic lab.
The team from NIH conducted closed and restricted experiments with the help of 19 obese persons. The subjects were divided into two groups, one had a restriction on fat intake, while the other group had restrictions of carbohydrate intake for four weeks.
The subjects were closely observed and were given a slim chance to cheat, shave, or misremember what they ate. The team of researchers also had the subjects under surveillance day in and day out, watching what they ate, and how much and what kind of fuel their bodies burned.
They were given an initial calorie-intake of 2,700 a day. Then, over a period of two weeks, they tried diets which cut their calorie intake by a third, either by reducing carbohydrates or fat.
The team also analyzed the amount of oxygen and carbon dioxide being breathed in and out, and the amount of nitrogen in the participants' urine. These were done in order to determine the precise chemical processes taking place inside the body of the subject.
Researchers found out that carbohydrate restriction led to sustained increases in fat oxidation and a loss of 53 ± 6 g/day of body fat. Fat oxidation was however unchanged by fat restriction, leading to 89 ± 6 g/day of fat loss, and was significantly greater than carbohydrate restriction (p = 0.002).
It is now mathematically and scientifically proven that a fat restricted diet has an advantage, metabolism-wise, over the carbohydrate restricted diet.
The author of the study, Dr. Kevin Hall, stated that the most efficient and effective diet is the diet that you can stick to and do permanently.
"If it's easier to stick to one diet than another, and to ideally do it permanently, then you should choose that diet," Hall said to BBC News.
