High-Fat, No-Starch Diet

New research sheds more light on high fat, no starch diets. The study shows these diets are effective in helping patients lose weight without adverse effects on their lipid levels.

Obesity affects more than 30 percent of the adult population in the United States. As Americans search for which diet will work for them, researchers from Christiana Care Health Services in Delaware conducted a study looking at the effect of a high fat, no-starch diet on different patients.

Included in the study were 23 obese patients with cardiovascular disease. The patients had been treated with statins (cholesterol-lowering drugs) before the start of the study. These patients were followed for six weeks. The study also included 15 obese patients who had polycystic ovary syndrome and eight obese patients who suffered from low blood sugar or reactive hypoglycemia. The patients in the latter two groups were followed for 24 and 52 weeks, respectively.

Researchers found the patients with cardiovascular disease decreased their total body weight by 5 percent. Researchers also found there was no adverse effect on their lipid levels. Patients with polycystic ovary syndrome lost 14 percent of their total body weight and those with low blood sugar lost nearly 20 percent of their total body weight.

Researchers conclude a high fat, low-starch diet results in weight loss after six weeks without having adverse effects on lipid levels. The study also shows further weight loss can happen up to 52 weeks later.

SOURCE: Mayo Clinical Proceedings, 2003;78:1331-1336