People living in Western industrialized nations usually consume about 50% carbohydrates per day in their diet. Low Carb consists of feeding less carbohydrates daily and goes back to the Englishman William Bantin (19th century), who practiced this diet on the advice of his doctor and described it in a book. He himself had lost 23 kilograms of body weight within a year on the high meat diet.
What is low carb?
The term low carb includes many different dietary approaches with reduced carbohydrate content. Under the term low carb, many different nutritional approaches with reduced carbohydrate content are summarized. Low Carb is practiced by people who want to lose weight, patients with certain diseases and convinced Low Carb followers who want to prevent health disorders with this diet. Carbohydrates, which are normally part of the daily diet, are replaced with proteins and fats. Building blocks of low carb are: Meat, fish, vegetables (little), dairy products (little, because they contain lactose, which is one of the carbohydrates). Advocates of this diet believe that the normally high carbohydrate content of the diet is harmful to health and promotes the occurrence of the so-called diseases of civilization. The body can process short-chain coal hydrates as for example grain products only conditionally. The supply of carbohydrates from outside is also not necessary, since the body can produce carbohydrates itself from glycerine and amino acids, using energy. In addition, insulin ensures that the body builds up fat deposits. Low carb is easier to implement in daily practice than other diets, such as whole foods or raw food diets, because most people already eat a lot of meat, cheese, fish and fat anyway.
Function, effect and goals
The goal of low carb is to achieve weight loss with as few carbohydrates as possible. The reduced amount of carbohydrates forces the body to get the energy it needs from its own fat stores (ketosis). The high protein content of the low carb diet causes a stronger and longer lasting feeling of satiety, as the peptide tyrosyl tyrosine (PYY) is increasingly released after the intake of protein-rich foods. The pancreas is not forced to release larger amounts of insulin after the meal and is therefore spared. Low carb encompasses diverse dietary styles that often differ greatly from one another. In addition to low carb forms with a reduction in daily carbohydrate intake such as the Lutz diet, there are low carb diets in which the glycemic index (GI) or glycemic load is taken into account and low carb high fat (LCHF) approaches. The Lutz diet limits daily carbohydrate intake to a maximum of 6 bread units (BE). The Low Carbler must renounce as far as possible starch and sugar and consume predominantly animal products. Other Low Carb forms provide apart from the reduction of the daily quantity of coal hydrate still additionally the restriction on coal hydrates, which have a low glykämische load. In LCHF diets, the person losing weight may only consume a maximum of 50 grams of carbohydrates and consumes a lot of animal fat and protein. The most prominent representative of LCHF is probably the Atkins method. The ketogenic diet with less than 50 grams of carbohydrates per day is mainly done for medical reasons (patients with GLUT1 deficit syndrome, cancer, etc.). The South Beach diet relies on fat and low GI carbohydrate foods. One protein food (egg, soy product, etc.) may be consumed at each of the three meals. ice cream, which are allowed only in small amounts, and good ones are distinguished. As comparative metastudies have shown, low carb diets appear to be more beneficial than low fat diets for patients with type 2 diabetes and those with insulin resistance. Long-term studies of children and adolescents fed the ketogenic low carb diet concluded that the very low carbohydrate content was not harmful to the health of the subjects tested. In comparative clinical studies of the effectiveness of low carb and low fat, the subjects on the low carbohydrate diet achieved greater weight loss than the comparison group. After one year on the diet, the results converged.
Risks, side effects and dangers
The increased protein content of the low carb diet can negatively affect existing gout. The large amount of protein ingested can also aggravate existing liver and kidney disease. With a genetically increased risk of arteriosclerosis, the low carb diet leads to increased cholesterol deposition on the vessel walls, resulting in an increased risk of stroke and heart attack (which has been shown in animal studies). A similar effect can be assumed in humans. In addition, many people who practice low carb for a long time suffer from symptoms such as constipation, bad breath, muscle cramps, headaches and nausea. Children of mothers who ate low carb during their pregnancy have an increased risk of later developing high blood pressure or cortisol overproduction. It can cause type-2 diabetes, mental disorders, muscle weakness and bone loss. The high protein content of low carb increases the risk of developing cancer later in life (Campbell studies). There is also a risk that some of the amino acids will be converted into glucose (sugar), i.e. carbohydrates, via glucose replacement. Many nutritionists believe that the high fat content of low carb foods increases the risk of atherosclerosis, especially in patients with cardiovascular disease, the elderly and pregnant women. Stress-prone people and people suffering from depression no longer have the possibility to positively influence their mood because of the reduction of the carbohydrate content in Low Carb. After ending the low carb (crash) diet, the body as a whole is more sensitive to carbohydrates than before.
