We all probably already know by now that people on a low carb (LC) diet rely mostly on fats to produce energy. When our body is denied glucose our body can create ketones in order to continue it's biological imperatives of eating sleeping and well, ehem...
One thing that wasn't sure up until now was whether or not the body, when in a low carb state, would burn excess amounts of fat deposited in the liver. Fatty Liver is a serious disease that millions of americans are affected with. It seems that an already solid diet strategy just got more awesome:
DALLAS – Jan. 20, 2009 – People on low-carbohydrate diets are more dependent on the oxidation of fat in the liver for energy than those on a low-calorie diet, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found in a small clinical study.
The findings, published in the journal Hepatology, could have implications for treating obesity and related diseases such as diabetes, insulin resistance and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, said Dr. Jeffrey Browning, assistant professor in the UT Southwestern Advanced Imaging Research Center and of internal medicine at the medical center.
"Instead of looking at drugs to combat obesity and the diseases that stem from it, maybe optimizing diet can not only manage and treat these diseases, but also prevent them," said Dr. Browning, the study's lead author.
(My Comments) Well, um... Yeah. I've been saying this for a long time now, and so have many others, but it seems that the old regime takes some time to fall. A sensible Low Carb Diet is essentially a CURE or PREVENTATIVE solution to almost every disease we are struggling with today. Why? Not because it's some revolutionary way to live. It's because Low Carb is HOW WE ARE SUPPOSED TO EAT. It's how man (and their better half) had been eating for the past 190,000 years (before the last 10,000 following things like the agricultural revolution.
I try not to get preachy but this scientific revelation along with most of the others regarding low carb is tantamount to people saying not eating leads to starvation so perhaps we should eat.
Ehem....
Although the study was not designed to determine which diet was more effective for losing weight, the average weight loss for the low-calorie dieters was about 5 pounds after two weeks, while the low-carbohydrate dieters lost about 9½ pounds on average.
Well I will at least admit that a good three pounds of that weight loss in the LC group is probably attributable to decreased water retention. Carbohydrates tend to draw water into the body so when you stop consuming as much of them you will lose three or four pounds just from that change, but it is just water.
The different diets produced other differences in glucose metabolism. For example, people on a low-calorie diet got about 40 percent of their glucose from glycogen, which is comes from ingested carbohydrates and is stored in the liver until the body needs it.
The low-carbohydrate dieters, however, got only 20 percent of their glucose from glycogen. Instead of dipping into their reserve of glycogen, these subjects burned liver fat for energy.
Now this is really good news to athletes. It seems that even during an LC diet we can hold on to our glycogen for when we really need it like sprinting or other anaerobic movements.
Bottom line - Low Carb is winning every race.
This news release is available at http://www.utsouthwestern.edu/
