Low-Carb vs Low-Fat: The Lowdown

In life, we face a lot of difficult choices; Gary or Robbie? Emmerdale or Corrie? Noel and Sandi or Mel and Sue? Pointless or The Chase? Impossible choices.

And what about when it comes to food? HP sauce or ketchup? Mint choc chip or vanilla? Brown bread or white? Low-fat or low-carb?

The last choice is definitely a tricky one if you’re trying to lose weight and facing conflicting advice from all sides. Some claim that cutting out all fats, both good and bad, will be the best thing to help you shed the pounds. Others preach that giving up carbs will help you slim down more.

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Giving up both isn’t an option, as your body needs energy from at least one of these sources in order to function, and you don’t want to be feeling lethargic, faint and hangry all of the time.

So, researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine in California set out to determine once and for all whether following a low-carb or a low-fat diet is best for weight loss.

They recruited 609 overweight adults aged between 18 and 50, with an even split of men and women, the Independent reports. They were weighed and divided into two groups; one had to limit their carb intake and the other had to cut down on fats for a period of 12 months.

For the first eight weeks, each group was allowed just 20 grams a week of the food group they were restricting. This then gradually increased over the course of the next year, until members of the low-fat group were consuming 57 grams of fat a week, and the carb-cutters were on 132 grams of carbohydrates a week.

All the participants were weighed again and, on average, members of both groups had lost 13 lbs during the year.

Some had lost as much as 60 lbs though, and lots of participants reported that their relationship with food had been changed for the better, as they were concentrating more on eating good stuff rather than calorie counting.

This shows that it doesn’t really matter whether you go for a low-fat diet or a low-carb eating plan – as long as you’re not eating too much of either, are sticking to fresh, unprocessed foods where you can and cutting out empty calories from things like sweets and alcohol, you should be just fine.

And in case you were wondering: Robbie. Corrie. Tough; but it has to be Mel and Sue. Pointless (sorry Bradders). Then, it has to be ketchup, mint choc chip and brown – we know what’s good for us.