Short Term Effects of a Low- Carbohydrate Diet, Article Critique Example

This research paper checks on the effectiveness of an LC approach and compares it to a low fat, high starch diet. These two form the standards of weight loss and chronic disease prevention. Ad libitum and isocaloric with degrees of carbohydrates that vary perform better than low fat diets. This regards loss of weight, glucose levels, lipid levels, blood pressure, and insulin response. It also checks on other cardiovascular conditions at this point. The consumption behavior of an individual is highly affected by what he or she consumes. LC diets are a solution to many health problems. These include heart complications, diabetes mellitus etcetera.

The percentage composition defines a diet. Lowered insulin levels lead the body of a human being to oxidation of fats leading to the formation of sugars in the body. This often leads to weight loss.

We use the following specifications to qualify fat allowances in various carbohydrate-reduced diets:

A reduced-carbohydrate diet- Consumption of less than 130 g of carbohydrates in a day. This gets up to 45% of total calories. LC diet incorporates about 30-130g of carbohydrates. Very low carbohydrate diet is less than 30g of carbohydrates a day. This leads to about 10% of calories in dietary fat (Taubes 150).

A low carbohydrate diet will often lead to obesity and overweight conditions in the short run. Low HDLC levels often lead to this.

Methods

A study was conducted with Overweight people i.e. BMI of 25-30 kg/m² and obese individuals BMI abovev30 kg/m with low HDL-C levels. Women were given a 1400 kcal 75-gram carbohydrate diet while men were given an 1800 kcal 100-gram CHO diet. This was for a period of four weeks. The individuals completed a three-day dietary consumption. Measurements of body fat ratio, glucose, Anthropometric indices, blood lipids, and insulin were taken. Measurements of the Baseline were taken\ and week-four results with a Wilcox on signed ranks test (Taubes 252).

Results

There were 25women and 18 men who took part in the study. The Basal median LDL-C level for men was 3.11. The basal median LDL-C level of women was 3.00 Mmol/l. After the 4 week period of a low-carbohydrate diet, the energy intake decreased from 1901 to 1307 kcal/day. The daily energy from carbohydrate reduced from 55%-33% while the body weight went from 87.7 to 83.0 kg. HDL-C, however, in men rose from 0.83-0.96 Mmol/l.

After the 4 week period of a low-carbohydrate diet, the energy consumption decreased from 1463 -1243 kcal. The daily energy gotten from carbohydrate decreased from 53% to 30%.

The body weight in women reduced from 73.2 -70.8 kg in women. HDL-C did not significantly change. There was a decrease in BMI, body fat ratio, the circumference of the waist, systolic blood pressure, levels of cholesterol, triglyceride, and insulin levels in all the participants.

Conclusion

HDL-C levels increased by a great margin. This was in response to energy restriction, carbohydrate restriction, and weight loss in men. In women in whom there was no remarkable energy restriction, no carbohydrate restriction, and some weight loss, HDL-C levels did not change. There should be energy restriction and carbohydrate restriction in order to solve cases of overweight individuals with low HDL-C levels. The explanation for this is that when there are less of carbohydrates in the diet, individuals will oxidize the fats in their bodies to yield sugars. This leads to weight loss.

Works Cited

Taubes, Gary. Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health. New York: Anchor, 2008.