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Low Carb Diets Should Carry a Health Warning

By WLR Dietitian, Juliette Kellow BSc RD

Low carb diets like the Atkins plan might claim to promote greater weight loss than more conventional diets that recommend a low-fat and high-carb intake.

But a new study confirms this isn’t the case – and in fact, suggests that extremely low carb diets may actually be harmful to health.

In a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 20 obese adults followed either a very low-carb diet where just 5 percent of calories came form carbs, or a moderately-restricted carb diet where 40 percent of calories came from carbs.

After six weeks, the researchers discovered the two groups had lost roughly the same amount of body fat and weight, but the very low-carb diet was linked with several adverse metabolic changes. As a result, the researchers recommend avoiding very low-carb diets.

WLR says:

As more research has been carried out, it’s become increasingly clear that there are no real benefits to following a low-carb diet – and there are very real health risks of low carb diets.

Even though this is a small study, it proves it really is calories that count when it comes to losing weight. Providing your calorie intake is lower than the amount of calories you use up every day, you’ll lose weight. Low carb diets can offer more risks than benefits.

Our advice: stick to the calorie intake recommended by WLR and make sure you get those calories by eating a sensible, healthy diet that includes plenty of fruit, veg and fibre-rich carbs like wholegrain bread, wholewheat pasta and brown rice.

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