Why do low-fat diets sometimes make blood fat worse?
Effects of a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet on VLDL-triglyceride assembly, production, and clearance.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Scientists gave people low-fat, high-carb food and checked how their bodies handled fat in the blood. They found the body got worse at cleaning up fat, not making more of it.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
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Evidence Score
A snapshot of a population at a single point in time. Can identify correlations and prevalence, but cannot determine the direction of cause and effect.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Scientists gave people low-fat, high-carb food and checked how their bodies handled fat in the blood. They found the body got worse at cleaning up fat, not making more of it.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 531 / 44
Evidence Score
A snapshot of a population at a single point in time. Can identify correlations and prevalence, but cannot determine the direction of cause and effect.
Publication
Authors
Parks EJ, Krauss RM, Christiansen MP, Neese RA, Hellerstein MK
Related Content
Claims (5)
In people with high triglycerides, a low-fat high-carb diet changes where the fat in their blood comes from — but scientists still can't explain where about 1 in 5 of those fat molecules are coming from.
When people eat a low-fat, high-carb diet, their body burns less fat for energy overall, which might help explain why fat builds up in the blood.
Eating a diet low in fat and high in carbs makes the body less able to clear fat from the blood, causing triglyceride levels to rise sharply.
When people with high triglycerides eat a low-fat, high-carb diet, their blood shows more leftover fat particles from meals, which might clog up the system that clears fat from the blood.
People with high triglycerides process fat differently than those with normal levels when eating a low-fat, high-carb diet — their bodies use different fat sources and clear fat slower, which may explain why this diet raises their triglycerides more than it does in others.