Important news on weight loss and heart health. When it comes to losing dangerous belly fat and improving the function of your blood vessels, it seems that for those who are overweight either a low carb or low fat diet will work just as effectively. Doctors know that being too heavy, especially if the fat sits at your waistline, is a risk in terms of heart disease.
Heart disease is a leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States. It's caused by the build up of plaque in the arteries that lead to your heart. Over time the arteries narrow and blood flow to your heart can slow or stop altogether. And while you can't change heart disease risk factors like your age, your gender, your genes or your race, there are things you can do, today, to decrease your risk. One of the most important is to get your weight under control.
That's easier said than done. And to help clarify the question about which means of weight loss, low carb or low fat, is best, the researchers examined 60 men and women who weighed an average of 215 pounds. Half the group was assigned to follow a low carbohydrate diet, the other half a low fat eating plan - both offering subjects a similar number of calories every day.
The low carbohydrate diet used for the research had up to 30% of daily calories coming from foods like bread, pasta and some fruits, while 40% was from fat that came from meat, dairy and nuts. The low fat diet had no more than 30% of daily calories coming from fat, and 55% of calories coming from carbs.
The subjects also did some moderately intense exercise during the 6-month study period. At the beginning and again at the end of the research, the team assessed the blood vessel function of each participant by conducting a special blood flow test that allowed the researchers to see how well the arteries expanded when they needed to, thus letting blood to flow freely through the body.
When the study was over, the low carb group lost on average 28.9 pounds; the low-fat group lost on average 18.7 pounds. But more important than the number on the scale, in terms of heart health, was the amount of belly fat a subject lost. The more loss in this area, the better the arteries functioned.
The research found that the level of blood vessel function improvement was directly linked to the amount of belly fat the subject lost, no matter whether they were following a low carb or low fat diet. The news is important because there had been concerns from some experts that the low carb diet might have a harmful impact of heart health. This latest work has shown that there is no harmful effect to the heart from eating this way, and that it will help you lose lots of weight as well.
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