Macro partitioning
A low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet improves cardiometabolic risk markers (specifically LPIR, triglycerides, and HDL-C) during weight-loss maintenance compared to a high-carbohydrate diet, without adversely affecting LDL particle concentration or LDL-C.
If you are maintaining weight loss, switching to a lower-carbohydrate, higher-fat diet (specifically 20% carbs, 60% fat) can improve your metabolic health markers like triglycerides and HDL, and reduce insulin resistance, without raising your LDL cholesterol or particle count. This benefit occurs even if the increased fat includes saturated fat, provided added sugars are kept low.
With 3-fold higher saturated fat content (21% vs 7% total energy), a low- vs high-carb diet improved LPIR, a biomarker of diabetes risk, and several other components of the metabolic syndrome, with no adverse effects on LDL-P or LDL-C.
Why this rating
Randomized controlled feeding trial with high retention (90%) and a large sample size (N=164), though limited to 20 weeks.
Source
Effects of a Low-Carbohydrate Diet on Cardiometabolic Risk Factors During Weight-Loss Maintenance: A Randomized Controlled Feeding Trial
Cara B. Ebbeling et al. · Current Developments in Nutrition · 2020
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 →