Research

Hormonal

During weight-loss maintenance, a high-carbohydrate diet (60% energy) significantly reduces late postprandial circulating energy availability compared to a low-carbohydrate diet (20% energy), primarily by suppressing free fatty acids.

If you are maintaining weight loss, be aware that high-carbohydrate meals may reduce the amount of fat available for your body to burn in the hours after eating, primarily due to insulin effects. This doesn't mean you will gain weight if you stay in a calorie deficit, but it may make you feel less energetic or hungrier later if your body is relying on stored fat. Experiment with lower carbohydrate ratios (e.g., 20-40%) to see if it improves your satiety and energy stability.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Late postprandial EA was 0.58 kcal/L lower on the high- vs low-carbohydrate diet (P < 0.0001), primarily related to suppression of free fatty acids.
Kim Shimy et al. · Journal of the Endocrine Society · 2020

Why this rating

Randomized controlled feeding trial in a metabolic ward with rigorous controls, though sample size is moderate (n=29).

Source

Effects of Dietary Carbohydrate Content on Circulating Metabolic Fuel Availability in the Postprandial State

Kim Shimy et al. · Journal of the Endocrine Society · 2020

DOI 10.1210/jendso/bvaa062

crossover · n=29Cited 33×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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