Low Fat Vs Low Carb: Which is Better For Weight Loss?

Cutting back on fat leads to greater body fat loss than cutting back on carbohydrates, according to a recent study.

In order to further investigate which of the 2 popular diet strategies results in greater loss of body fat, researchers followed 19 obese individuals admitted to a metabolic ward for 2 separate dietary periods. During the first, 30% of participants’ baseline calories were restricted by cutting out carbohydrates only. During the second period, 30% of participants’ baseline calories were restricted by cutting fat intake.
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Using a metabolic chamber, researchers calculated body fat loss by measuring participants’ daily fat intake and net fat oxidation.

While participants were shown to burn more fat while on a carb-restrictive diet, more body fat was lost overall when on the low-fat diet.

“This study demonstrated that, calorie for calorie, restriction of dietary fat led to greater body fat loss than restriction of dietary carbohydrate in adults with obesity,” researchers concluded.

“This occurred despite the fact that only the carbohydrate-restricted diet led to decreased insulin secretion and a substantial sustained increase in net fat oxidation compared to the baseline energy-balanced diet.”

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Hall KD, Bemis T, Brychta R, et al. Calorie for calorie, dietary fat restriction results in more body fat loss than carbohydrate restriction in people with obesity. Cell Metabolism. August 13, 2015 [epub ahead of print]. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2015.07.021