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Book

Low-Carbohydrate Diet

Robert Oh  1 , Brian Gilani, Kalyan R. Uppaluri  2
In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2025 Jan.
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Book

Low-Carbohydrate Diet

Robert Oh et al.
Free Books & Documents

Excerpt

Since 1860, and more recently, in 1972, low carbohydrate (low-carb) diets have been a strategy for weight loss. Today, there continues to be an interest in low-carb approaches. While all low-carbohydrate approaches reduce the overall intake of carbohydrates, no clear consensus on what defines a low-carb diet exists. There are 3 macronutrients—carbohydrates (4 kcal/g), fat (9 kcal/g), and protein (4 kcal/g)—found in food. Therefore, studies have defined low carbohydrate as a percent of daily macronutrient intake or total daily carbohydrate load. This review defines low-carbo diets as follows:

  1. Very low-carbohydrate (<10% carbohydrates) or 20 to 50 g/d

  2. Low-carbohydrate (<26% carbohydrates) or less than 130 g/d

  3. Moderate-carbohydrate (26%-44%)

  4. High-carbohydrate (45% or greater)

For reference, the Institute of Medicine proposes Americans obtain 45% to 65% of calories from carbohydrates. This activity reviews the evidence and effectiveness of low-carb approaches in clinical medicine.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure: Robert Oh declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

Disclosure: Brian Gilani declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

Disclosure: Kalyan Uppaluri declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

References

    1. Trumbo P, Schlicker S, Yates AA, Poos M, Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine, The National Academies Dietary reference intakes for energy, carbohydrate, fiber, fat, fatty acids, cholesterol, protein and amino acids. J Am Diet Assoc. 2002 Nov;102(11):1621-30. - PubMed
    1. Ebbeling CB, Feldman HA, Klein GL, Wong JMW, Bielak L, Steltz SK, Luoto PK, Wolfe RR, Wong WW, Ludwig DS. Effects of a low carbohydrate diet on energy expenditure during weight loss maintenance: randomized trial. BMJ. 2018 Nov 14;363:k4583. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ludwig DS, Ebbeling CB. The Carbohydrate-Insulin Model of Obesity: Beyond "Calories In, Calories Out". JAMA Intern Med. 2018 Aug 01;178(8):1098-1103. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Nordmann AJ, Nordmann A, Briel M, Keller U, Yancy WS, Brehm BJ, Bucher HC. Effects of low-carbohydrate vs low-fat diets on weight loss and cardiovascular risk factors: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Arch Intern Med. 2006 Feb 13;166(3):285-93. - PubMed
    1. Bueno NB, de Melo IS, de Oliveira SL, da Rocha Ataide T. Very-low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet v. low-fat diet for long-term weight loss: a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Br J Nutr. 2013 Oct;110(7):1178-87. - PubMed

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