Low-carb side effects cited

Posted by Luis F. Escalante on September 3 in Low-carb side effects

According to a scientist who reviewed five dozen diet studies, low-carb diets produce more side effects than the average low-fat diet. Danish obesity expert Dr. Arne Astrup, whose survey is published this week in The Lancet medical journal, says that headaches, muscle weakness and either diarrhea or constipation are reported more often by low-carb dieters than those on conventional diets.

However, other experts question how bad the side effects really are. "More people stayed in the low-carb group than in the low-fat group, so you've got to wonder how severe those side effects were if more people kept to the low-carb diet," said William Yancy, a Duke University researcher who conducted one of the major studies that Astrup reviewed.