A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Alabama Birmingham, which was published in the journal Nutrition and Metabolism, found that an eight-week low-carbohydrate high-fat dietary intervention resulted in multiple metabolic improvements, including body composition, fat distribution, and metabolic health.
 
Older adults with obesity are at particularly high risk of developing diet-related illnesses including type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Deposition of fat in certain areas, such as the abdominal cavity and skeletal muscle, may also increase the risk of disease development, according to the authors.
 
It has been theorized that a very low-carb, high-fat diet helps to deplete fat depots and preserve lean mass without internal caloric restriction in adults with obesity, due to changes in energy metabolism, which represented one endpoint in the study. It is believed that this type of macronutrient ratio can improve outcomes in cardiometabolic disease, such as insulin sensitivity and the lipid profile.
 
“After the eight week intervention, despite the recommendation to consume a weight-maintaining diet, the group consuming the very low-carbohydrate diet lost more weight and total fat mass than the control diet group,” Amy Goss, PhD, RDN, lead author of the study, said.
 
Part of the very low carbohydrate diet (VLCD) prescription was egg consumption, and participants in the VLCD group were instructed to consume at least three eggs per day.
 
“While eggs were a part of this study, we can’t conclude that our findings are a result of daily egg consumption; but I think what we can conclude is that whole eggs can be incorporated into the diet in a healthful way without adversely impacting blood cholesterol in older adults,” Goss continued.
 
The primary difference in fat lost between the two groups was from the abdominal cavity and the skeletal muscle depots, the authors said. Participants on the VLCD intervention experienced a three-fold greater visceral adipose tissue in comparison to the low-fat diet group, as well as a greater decrease in thigh adipose tissue (-24.4% compared to -1%) than the low-fat diet group. The VLCD group had significantly greater thigh skeletal muscle after eight weeks compared to all other dietary groups.
 
“We also found significant improvements in the overall lipid profile that would reflect decreased risk of cardiovascular disease,” Goss said. “Further, insulin sensitivity improved in response to the very low-carbohydrate diet reflecting reduced risk of type 2 diabetes. Overall, we observed improvements in body composition, fat distribution, and metabolic health in response to an eight-week, very low-carbohydrate diet.”
 
Effect on Diabetes
 
Goss said that the study further substantiated VCLD as a therapeutic option for type 2 diabetes, obesity, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
 
“This study extends previous research to show that it can be a safe, therapeutic option for older adults in their 70s experiencing obesity,” she said. “This is the first study to demonstrate depletion of ‘metabolically harmful’ fat depots while preserving skeletal muscle during weight loss in response to a VLCD in older adults.”
 
Gross adds that while this study focused on metabolic effects in older adults, multiple previous studies have suggested that VLCD interventions can benefit younger populations as well. Older populations were the focus of this study due to the fact that they’re at a particularly high risk for diseases, and may be in need of therapeutic interventions which can preserve skeletal muscle mass, which functionally declines with age.”