Research

Hormonal

Physiologic adaptation to a low-carbohydrate diet (LCD) creates a prolonged carry-over effect that persists into a subsequent low-fat diet (LFD) period, resulting in lower energy intake and higher fat oxidation compared to those who started with LFD.

If you switch from a low-carb to a high-carb diet, do not judge the high-carb diet's effectiveness in the first week. Your body is still metabolically 'primed' from the low-carb state (higher fat oxidation, lower insulin). This adaptation takes weeks. Short-term judgments during this transition are misleading.

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Previous consumption of LCD had a prolonged beneficial effect during the subsequent LFD period, with lower energy intake and RQ.
Adrián Soto-Mota et al. · Journal of Nutrition · 2023

Why this rating

Supported by specific metabolic markers (βOHB, RQ, C-peptide) measured in the reanalysis.

Source

Physiologic Adaptation to Macronutrient Change Distorts Findings from Short Dietary Trials: Reanalysis of a Metabolic Ward Study

Adrián Soto-Mota et al. · Journal of Nutrition · 2023

DOI 10.1016/j.tjnut.2023.12.017

crossover · n=16Cited 10×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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