Macro partitioning
For overweight and obese adults, low-carbohydrate diets (≤120g carbs/day) produce significantly greater weight loss and greater reductions in predicted atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk compared to low-fat diets (≤30% energy from fat).
If you are overweight or obese, trying a low-carbohydrate diet (limiting carbs to 120g or less per day) may help you lose more weight and improve your heart health risk profile compared to a low-fat diet. This approach works best if you can adhere to the dietary restrictions consistently over several months.
Compared with low fat diet, low carbohydrate was associated with significantly greater reduction in weight (Δ = -2.0 kg, 95% CI: -3.1, -0.9) and significantly lower predicted risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease events (p<0.03).
Why this rating
High-quality meta-analysis of 17 randomized controlled trials with 1,797 patients, though limited by lack of patient-level data and heterogeneity.
Source
Dietary Intervention for Overweight and Obese Adults: Comparison of Low-Carbohydrate and Low-Fat Diets. A Meta-Analysis
Jonathan Sackner‐Bernstein et al. · PLoS ONE · 2015
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