Research

Hormonal

For obese women, matching dietary macronutrient composition to insulin sensitivity status significantly enhances weight loss: insulin-sensitive individuals lose more weight on high-carbohydrate/low-fat diets, while insulin-resistant individuals lose more weight on low-carbohydrate/high-fat diets.

If you are obese and trying to lose weight, your insulin sensitivity matters. If your fasting insulin is low (insulin-sensitive), a higher-carb, lower-fat diet will likely help you lose more weight. If your fasting insulin is high (insulin-resistant), a lower-carb, higher-fat diet is likely more effective for you. Both diets should be hypocaloric.

ModerateQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
Insulin-sensitive women on the HC/LF diet lost 13.5 (± 1.2)% ... whereas those on the LC/HF diet lost 6.8 (± 1.2)% ... In contrast, among the insulin-resistant women, those on the LC/HF diet lost 13.4 (± 1.3)% ... as compared with 8.5 (± 1.4)% lost by those on the HC/LF diet
Marc‐André Cornier et al. · Obesity Research · 2005

Why this rating

Randomized controlled trial with strict dietary control, but small sample size (n=21) and short duration (16 weeks).

Source

Insulin Sensitivity Determines the Effectiveness of Dietary Macronutrient Composition on Weight Loss in Obese Women

Marc‐André Cornier et al. · Obesity Research · 2005

DOI 10.1038/oby.2005.79

rct · n=21Cited 140×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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