Research
Energy balance
After 24 months of adherence, there is no significant difference in weight loss or improvements in metabolic risk factors between low-carbohydrate diets and low-fat diets.
If you can stick to either a low-carb or low-fat diet for 2 years or more, you will likely achieve similar weight loss and metabolic improvements. The initial advantages of one over the other fade over time, so choose the one that fits your lifestyle and preferences best.
GoodQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
There was no difference in benefits between the two diets after 24 months.
Why this rating
Based on the same meta-analysis of 33 RCTs.
Source
Effects of low-carbohydrate diets versus low-fat diets on metabolic risk factors in overweight and obese adults: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
Lifu Lei et al. · Frontiers in Nutrition · 2022
DOI 10.3389/fnut.2022.935234
Meta-analysis · 33 studiesCited 30×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- In overweight and obese adults, low-carbohydrate diets (LCD) produce greater reductions in triglycerides, diastolic blood pressure, and body weight, along with greater increases in HDL cholesterol, compared to low-fat diets (LFD) over a duration of 6 to 23 months.Good
- Low-fat diets (LFD) result in greater reductions in Total Cholesterol (TC) and Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol compared to low-carbohydrate diets (LCD) over a duration of 6 to 23 months.Good
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