Just had a chance to look at the new paper on cardiovascular effects of a very-low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet in lean, healthy, young people. The results suggest that it may be a disaster for blood lipids in this population.
atherosclerosis-journal.com/article/S0021-…
atherosclerosis-journal.com/article/S0021-…
LDL cholesterol increased in 15/15 people, average 44% increase. ApoB increased in 14/15 people, average 29% increase. No change in triglycerides. HDL cholesterol increased in 13/15, average 19% increase. FFA levels doubled. Yikes.
Primary limitations that are obvious to me are 1) Short duration. It was a 3-week trial. 2) Results probably don't generalize to people with obesity/overweight/metabolic syndrome where weight loss and metabolic improvements may occur concurrently.
So I don't think it would be accurate to make blanket statements about the effects of very-low-carb diets on cardiovascular risk based on this study. But it does suggest that lean, healthy, young people might want to think twice about it. Or at least get lipids checked.
This squares with my experience after 6 months of a low-carbohydrate diet. My LDL cholesterol went way up, and has dropped back down after going off the diet. HDL went up a lot too, but I'm not sure how to interpret that.
Hat tip to @erik_arnesen for sharing this study.
