Research
Hormonal
Individuals with high insulin secretion in response to carbohydrates are more likely to gain weight on high-glycemic load diets and benefit more from low-glycemic or low-carbohydrate diets.
If you struggle with weight loss despite following a low-fat diet, you might have a high insulin response to carbohydrates. Trying a low-glycemic or low-carbohydrate diet may be more effective for you.
ModerateConditionalMEDIUM confidence
The CIM predicts that people with an intrinsically high insulin response to carbohydrate (assessed as insulin concentration 30 minutes into a standard oral glucose tolerance test) will gain the most weight on a high-GL diet, whereas those with low response may do relatively well on a low-fat diet.
Why this rating
Supported by animal research and some cohort studies, but not all clinical trials.
Source
The Carbohydrate-Insulin Model of Obesity
David S. Ludwig et al. · JAMA Internal Medicine · 2018
DOI 10.1001/jamainternmed.2018.2933
narrative_reviewCited 427×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- High-glycemic load carbohydrates promote obesity by stimulating insulin secretion, which partitions calories into adipose tissue, thereby reducing circulating fuel availability, increasing hunger, and lowering energy expenditure.Moderate
- High-glycemic load diets lower energy expenditure and increase hunger compared to low-glycemic load or low-carbohydrate diets, even when calorie intake is controlled.Moderate
Related findings · Hormonal
- Initial treatment for type 2 diabetes should be a combination of metformin and either an SGLT-2 inhibitor or a GLP-1 receptor agonist to achieve cardiorenal protection, rather than monotherapy or older agents like sulfonylureas.Strong
- For patients with specific monogenic obesity syndromes (leptin deficiency, POMC/PCSK1/LEPR mutations), targeted pharmacotherapy (recombinant leptin or setmelanotide) is highly effective and should be prioritized, unlike in polygenic obesity.Strong
- Continued weekly administration of 2.4 mg subcutaneous semaglutide prevents weight regain and promotes further weight loss in adults with overweight or obesity, whereas switching to placebo results in significant weight regain.Strong
This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →