Eating a lot of sugary and refined carbs for four weeks lowered both the bad and the good cholesterol in overweight men—which is surprising, because usually only the bad kind goes down. This might be because the diet also had more healthy fats in it.

Eating a lot of sugary and refined carbs for four weeks lowered both the bad and the good cholesterol in overweight men—which is surprising because usually only the bad cholesterol goes down. This might be because they also ate more healthy fats at the same time.

If overweight men eat mostly high-sugar, refined carbs for four weeks, they might lose a tiny bit more fat and gain a tiny bit more muscle than if they ate whole grains and low-sugar foods—but the difference is so small that it probably doesn’t matter much for their health.

If overweight men eat mostly high-sugar, high-refined-carb foods for four weeks, they might lose a little more fat and gain a little more muscle than if they ate low-sugar, whole-food carbs—but it’s so small that it might not actually matter in real life.

Eating either high-sugar or low-sugar carbs for four weeks doesn’t reliably change insulin response, swelling, or blood clotting in overweight or obese men—even though the types of carbs were very different.

If you eat different kinds of food for four weeks—some high in sugar, some low—but everything else stays the same, your body’s insulin response, inflammation, and blood clotting don’t consistently change if you’re overweight or obese.