Monday, September 24, 2007

How Do You Feel on Low-Carb?

An interesting short-term study published in this month's American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Low- and high-carbohydrate weight-loss diets have similar effects on mood but not cognitive performance, sought to assess differences in mood following a high-carbohydrate diet compared with a low-carbohydrate diet.

In the study, ninety-three subjects were randomized into two groups:
  • The high-carbohydrate dieters consuming a calorie restricted diet with 46% carbohydrate, 24% protein and 30% fat. Women consumed approximately 1429-calories each day, or 164g carbohydrate, 48g fat and 86g protein. Men consumed approximately 1667-calories each day, or 192g carbohydrate, 56g fat and 100g protein.
  • The low-carbohydrate dieters consuming a calorie restricted diet with approximately 4% carbohydrate, 35% protein and 61% fat. Women consume approximately the same calories as above (there was no statistically significant difference for calories consumed in the study), or 15g carbohydrate, 97g fat and 125g protein. Men consumed approximately the same calories as above, or 17g carbohydrate, 113g fat and 146g protein.

Throughout the study, over the course of eight weeks, foods were provided to subjects and every two-weeks weight was taken and mood measured. Compliance by those following the low-carb diet was verified by measuring urinary ketone levels.

Both diets resulted in statistically significant weight loss.

The low-carbohydrate diet resulted in a statistically significant greater weight loss over the eight-week period than the high-carbohydrate diet, with low-carb dieters losing an average of 7.8kg (17.2-pounds) compared to 6.4kg (14.1-pounds) in the intent-to-treat analysis (p=0.04).

Both groups showed improvements in psychological well-being (p=0.01 for time) and there was no significant difference in working memory. The researchers noted "[t]here was some evidence for a smaller improvement in cognitive functioning with the LCHF diet with respect to speed of processing, but further studies are required to determine the replicability of this finding."

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Update

I'll be back to my blogging duties on Monday, September 24, 2007!

Sorry about the long delay, things here are a bit hectic!

Thursday, September 06, 2007

Dr. Gil Wilshire on PCOS and Infertility

Life here remains hectic and crazy! I do apologize for my scant posts in the last couple of weeks...and hope to catch up with everything this weekend and resume my regular posting schedule Monday.

In the meantime, I'd like to share with my readers today's podcast at Jimmy Moore's site; it's an interview with my husband, Dr. Gil Wilshire, MD FACOG! Jimmy and Gil discuss his practice, PCOS, obesity and infertility. I hope you'll take a few minutes to listen in!


Low-Carb and Fertility: Dr. Gil Wilshire, MD, FACOG

Mid-Missouri Reproductive Medicine & Surgery

Standard Podcast [24:37m]: Hide Player Play in Popup Download