Interactions of diet, exercise, metabolism, and weight change in humans

National Institute Of Diabetes And Digestive And Kidney Diseases

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

Competing theories about obesity and its treatment contrast the relative roles of dietary fat versus carbohydrate on promotion of excessive calorie intake. Proponents of low-fat diets argue that diets high in fat promote passive overconsumption due to the high energy density and low satiety index of high-fat foods. Advocates of low-carbohydrate diets propose that diets high in carbohydrates lead to elevated insulin secretion resulting in decreased energy expenditure and increased hunger. To test these competing hypotheses, we completed an ad libitum feeding study (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03878108) in 20 adult men and women to investigate the differences in energy intake resulting from consuming two test diets for a pair of 2-week periods in a randomized, crossover design during a single 4-week inpatient period. The test diets presented to participants will be matched for calories and protein, but the low-carbohydrate diet (10% of calories) will be high in fat (75% of calories) whereas the low-fat diet will be high in carbohydrates (75% of calories) and low in fat (10% of calories).