Low Carb Diets Suppress Appetite

A study has been published in the Annals of Internal Medicine that goes some way to paint low-carb diets in a more favorable light (for obese diabetics at least):

"We proved that people lose weight on the Atkins diet because they eat less (consume fewer calories), not because they get bored with the diet or lose body water or because the carbohydrate calories are treated differently by the body than fat or protein calories," said Dr. Guenther Boden, a professor of medicine who specializes in diabetes and metabolism at Temple University in Philadelphia.

Despite a small sample size, the study is more accurate as the patients were kept in hospital and precisely monitored:

...when restricted to 20 grams of carbs a day, and despite readily available protein and high-fat foods, the patients ate about 1,000 fewer calories a day, a calorie intake considered appropriate to their height and weight. And they lost an average of about 3.6 pounds each.

We've gone from embracing low-carb diets such as Atkins (without researching the full consequences), then responding in a backlash when they didn't seem to work. Perhaps we can now move to a more balanced approach. Low-carb diets do have a place, and they are appropriate for some people. But that doesn't mean we should all rush to drop carbs from our diet.

Personally I think we probably eat too much refined carbohydrate as it is. Moderation and balance - not necessarily the same thing to each person.

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