Chinner said:
Well, Science disagrees. Also consider that low carb diets are high fat diets, and fat has twice the amount of calories than protein or carbs.
Science does not disagree. I understand that low-carb diets have a higher fat content, but they still tend to be calorie-restricted due to carb elimination without full caloric replacement from other sources.
A couple of studies:
Interestingly enough, adults in the US who eat a high carbohydrate diet are more likely have a BMI of under 25.
http://www.jacn.org/cgi/content/full/21/3/268
Also, while in special populations (extremely obese, insulin resistant, diabetic) low-carb dieting tends to result in a better outcome over a six month period:
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.105...://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa022207
See, it turns out that over the long term, the restriction of carbohydrates isn't what makes people lose the weight, it's the calories. For the first six months though again, the low-carb tends to have you lose a little more (personally, I'd guess water weight).
http://www.icb.ufmg.br/biq/biq038/lancet.pdf
Seriously, there isn't really a metabolic advantage here. Some people think that there are negative side effects to the low-carb thing, but that's really up in the air (personally, I think that there may be benefits, though this study doesn't agree.)
http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/83/5/1055
I mean, low-carb diets work, and they work well, but the reason behind it often ambiguous. Poor study control! Tell us more about ze caloriez!
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/297/9/969
The issue is that in most of these studies, calories aren't monitored on the low-carb front. I get the impression from the studies where calories ARE kept constant that weight loss is largely calorie-dependent after an initial drop in weight apparently due to water loss. The trend in these studies however is that it is
easier to lose weight on low-carb diets. Protein is higher, and so is satiety. The elimination of a major calorie source seems to make eating less simpler. Adherence tends to be a little higher. The insulin stuff is kind of hogwash unless people are scarfing sugar, as protein spikes insulin hard (beef and brown rice for example deliver a similar insulin spike), but it works.
The comment I was replying to was saying that 'how low do my carbs have to be for me to keep the weight off' and my response was that they don't have to be low; you just have to keep your calories low. If people find it easier to go low-carb while doing so, more power to them, but I'm not going to tell someone that they have to follow something more restrictive than necessary.
In a general sense, I think the type of diet depends on the individual. For extremely obese people with low adherence, low-carb might be just right for them, as it might be for certain types of metabolisms. In a general sense though, it just doesn't matter which one you choose.
