10 Jul New research could debunk Banting diet? No way, says Noakes!
Low carbohydrate diets, as advocated by Prof Tim Noakes of UCT’s Sports Science Institute, result in no more weight loss than “recommended balanced diets”, a Stellenbosch University study, just released, has found. Noakes has dismissed the findings.
The study, published in online medical journal PLOS ONE, pooled the results of 19 clinical trials conducted in high-income countries, and measured weight loss and heart disease risk factors such as blood cholesterol levels. Researchers monitored 3 209 overweight and obese participants for periods of between three months and two years.
In each of the trials, the participant’s calorie intake was controlled, in other words, those on low carbohydrate diets consumed the same amount of calories as those on “balanced diets”.
Researchers defined a balanced diet as one that “reduces energy intake by guiding healthy food choices and decreasing portion sizes, while keeping the carbohydrate, protein and fat within the recommended ranges of intake”. Balanced diets include plenty of vegetables, fruit and unrefined carbohydrates such as rice and oats, and emphasise vegetables and fish fats and oils instead of animal fats.
By contrast, a low carbohydrate diet such as the “Banting” diet that Noakes has been promoting eliminates food with high quantities of carbohydrates, such as potatoes, rice, bread, cereal and pasta, and replaces them with food that has a high fat content, such as fatty meat, cheese, coconut oil and certain types of nuts.
Popularity of Banting diet
Noakes’s ideas have rapidly gained popularity in South Africa and he has reported people losing as much as 80kg in seven months after following his diet. Earlier this year, he co-authored a book titled The Real Meal Revolution, with recipes for the Banting diet, that sold out within weeks of hitting the shelves. Social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook have been abuzz with South Africans boasting of instant weight loss.
But many medical scientists consider Noakes’s diet controversial and view it as a potential health risk owing to its high fat content. Noakes has been heavily criticised for promoting eating habits for which many say he lacks scientific evidence and for which he has not attempted to conduct clinical trials.
But now, Stellenbosch researchers say, they’ve got evidence to “clear up the misperception” that low carbohydrate diets make you lose weight faster.
“This systematic review shows that when the amount of energy [calories] consumed by people following the low carbohydrate and balanced diets was similar, there was no difference in weight loss after three to six months and after one to two years in those with and without diabetes,” said lead researcher Celeste Naude from the Centre for Evidence-based Health Care at Stellenbosch University’s faculty of medicine and health sciences.
Controlling calories
But Noakes has strongly objected to the study, saying “if you control the calories [when comparing the two types of diets] you falsely advantage low fat diets, as people on low fat diets with high amounts of carbohydrates are almost always hungry”.
“The reason why people lose so much more weight on low carbohydrate diets is because they lose their hunger [fat intake is known to reduce hunger leading to less food intake] and that’s key,” Noakes told the Mail & Guardian…..
Mail & Guardian: Read the full article
Caption: Pretoria businessman Deon van der Merwe (42) who has shed 77kg on the Banting diet. See http://www.the-diet.co.za/news
Journal Reference:
Research Article | published 09 Jul 2014 | PLOS ONE 10.1371/journal.pone.0100652
Editor’s Note:
Coincidentally, another study, also published July 9, 2014, on PLOS ON, has found: “Our results suggest that a very low carbohydrate diet coupled with skills to promote behavior change may improve glycemic control in type 2 diabetes while allowing decreases in diabetes medications”.
A Randomized Pilot Trial of a Moderate Carbohydrate Diet Compared to a Very Low Carbohydrate Diet in Overweight or Obese Individuals with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus or Prediabetes
Research Article | published 09 Apr 2014 | PLOS ONE 10.1371/journal.pone.0091027