New Study Supports Previous Research Showing Low-Carb Diet Good For Metabolic Syndrome

Filed under: Study — @ July 25, 2007

Dr. Matthew Hayes interested in how and why low-carb diets work

Dr. Matthew R. Hayes from the University of Pennsylvania has conducted a new study published in the August 2007 issue of The Journal of Nutrition which scientifically confirms a low-carb diet is good for people suffering from metabolic syndrome, a condition where obesity, high triglycerides, low HDL “good” cholesterol, high blood sugar, hypertension and insulin resistance leads to a greater risk for diabetes, stroke and heart disease.

We first heard this message before from Dr. Volek and Dr. Richard Feinman from SUNY Downstate in Brooklyn, NY way back in 2005. This new research further solidifies the strong signs that this remarkable way of eating we know and love is indeed what’s right for optimal weight and health.

He and his fellow researchers looked at 20 men and women diagnosed with metabolic syndrome and placed them on a South Beach-styled low-carb diet over a three-month with the following parameters regarding carbohydrate consumption:

PHASE ONE–Two weeks of 10 percent of their calories from carbs
PHASE TWO–Ten weeks of up to 27 percent of their calories from carbs

The average starting weight off the study participants was slightly higher than 200 pounds and the diet itself worked to bring about the expected weight loss as well as total body fat.

“By the end of the study, the subjects weighed about 193, 194,” Dr. Hayes noted. “They lost close to 10 pounds during the three-month study.”

More importantly than the weight loss was the impact on their health.

“By the end of the study, about 50 percent no longer had metabolic syndrome,” he added.

Click here to find out the rest of the results from this encouraging study about the low-carb lifestyle as well as what the researchers learned about how and why this way of eating works so well for weight loss and health improvements.