Fat & Weight Loss

How many times have we searched for the ‘perfect’ diet? Everywhere we go and every time we turn around it seems that there is a new book or program that claims to be the one that will shed off all the weight with no problems. Many of us have tried the drinks, the bars, and even the pills in hopes that we can lose the weight in time for our high school reunion or for that vacation in the Caribbean. Most of these diets have failed us and left us with disappointment. According to the Aberdeen Rowett Research Institute all of that is about to change.

The scientists at the Rowett Institute have proven that having a low carbohydrate, high protein diet will help to curb the hunger and give you the best weight loss results in a short amount of time. This study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Scientists volunteered healthy, obese men and put them on two different diets. Both of the diets contained high protein content. However, the carbohydrates that they consumed were different amounts. One diet has a moderate amount of carbohydrates, while the other diet had a low amount.

“Our volunteers found both diets to be equally palatable, but they felt less hungry on the high-protein low-carbohydrate diet compared with the diet which contained high-protein but moderate amounts of carbohydrate,” said Rowett’s weight loss expert leading the study -  Dr. Alex Johnstone. “Weight loss during the two four week study periods was greater on the high-protein low-carbohydrate diet, averaging 6.3 kg per person, compared with 4.3 kg on the moderate carbohydrate diet.”

One of the main reasons that scientists underwent this study was to see the psychological mechanisms that would help to trigger the diet and to see exactly how it worked. Many doctors and scientists know that when a person eats a low amount of carbohydrates their body will switch from using glucose to ketone to fuel the body. Ketone’s are appetite suppressing and could easily affect the appetite centres that are found in the brain.

“In this study, we showed that on the high-protein low-carbohydrate diet the volunteers became ketogenic within 1-2 days of starting this diet and so it may be that high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets are particularly effective because of the combined effect of the protein and the ketone bodies,” Dr. Johnstone said. “We showed that the volunteers on the ketogenic diet reduced their energy intake without increasing their hunger and this was a very important factor in their ability to stick to the diet.”

However, this study is not completely safe at the moment. Dr. Johnstone believes that this diet could reduce the number of helpful bacteria that resides in our body. In the report Dr. Johnstone stated, “That low carbohydrate diets may have consequences for the health of the gut by dramatically reducing the numbers of particular types of bacteria. So we will be looking in more detail at the complex way in which we respond to changes in our diet before we can say whether low-carbohydrate ketogenic diets are a suitable tool for everyone who wants to lose weight.”