Low-Glycemic may be Better than Low-Fat Diet
(Reuters Health, 6/6/05)

Dr. David S. Ludwig of Children’s Hospital in Boston, and colleagues, assigned 23 obese subjects to either a low-fat or low-glycemic index diet for a year. The glycemic index regimen favored foods conducive to maintaining stable blood sugar levels, such as carbohydrates that take longer to digest, and allowed participants to eat as much of approved foods as they wanted, with nearly half of their calories coming from carbohydrates and 30 to 35 % from fat. The low-fat group reduced their daily calories by 250 to 500, kept fat below 30% of total calories, getting between 55 and 60% of calories from carbohydrates. The researchers found that low-glycemic dieters lost as much weight as their peers on the calorie-restricted, low-fat diet and they exhibited a greater reduction in blood levels of fatty substances linked to heart disease. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of low-glycemic regimens for weight loss and heart disease risk reduction.

(American Journal of Clinical Nutrition)