A study presented at The Endocrine Society’s 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston, shows that consumption fewer carbohydrates may lead to a loss of deep belly fat, even if little or no change in weight occurs.
According to an article published by ScienceDaily, the study, conducted by researchers at the University of Alabama, examined 69 overweight (but healthy) adults. The participants were provided meals for 2 consecutive eight-week periods. First, they were given meals for weight maintenance, and then to promote weight loss, which cut daily calorie intake by 1000 calories. They ate either a standard low fat diet or a diet with a moderate reduction in carbs. The lower-carbohydrate diet was somewhat higher in fat than the standard diet. The researchers measured the participants’ fat deep abdominal fat, as well as their total body fat using computed tomography (CT) and dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans at the beginning and end of each of the eight-week periods.
At the end of the study, both diet groups had lost weight. The key finding was that participants who consumed the lower-carbohydrate diet had 11 percent less deep abdominal fat than those who ate the standard diet. The moderately carb-restricted diet also led a 4 percent greater loss of total body fat.
You can read ScienceDaily’s article about the study here.
For more on the role of carbohydrates in obesity, watch Dr. Robert Cywes of Jacksonville Weight Loss Center, who has created this video: Why We Get Fat
Nutrition & Lifestyle