The Study
Low‐carbohydrate diet score is associated with improved blood pressure and cardio‐metabolic risk factors among obese adults
This study is like taking a snapshot of people’s diets and health at one moment. It can show that people who eat fewer carbs tend to have better blood pressure and cholesterol, but it can’t prove that the diet caused those improvements. Maybe other things, like exercise or genetics, played a role.
Analysis score
Maximum 44 for a cross-sectional study.
Where the score came from
We looked at how eating less bread, rice, and sugar and more fat affects health in heavy adults. Those who ate fewer carbs had better blood pressure and cholesterol levels, but were actually heavier.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 541 / 100
Quality score
Snapshots of a population at a single point in time, or descriptions of small groups. Can identify correlations and prevalence, but cannot determine cause and effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1The good news is better heart health markers, but the bad news is these people were more obese, so the diet might help some things but not overall weight.
- 2People who ate the fewest carbs had lower diastolic blood pressure, lower triglycerides, and higher good cholesterol.
- 3They were less likely to have metabolic syndrome.
- 4But they also had higher BMI and body fat.
- 5Blood sugar levels didn't change much.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Physiological Reports
Year
2022
Authors
M. S. Pour Abbasi, Niloofar Shojaei, M. Farhangi
Related Content
Claims (6)
Eating fewer carbs might help lower your blood pressure if you have high blood pressure.
If you're an adult with obesity, sticking more closely to a low-carb diet might help lower your top blood pressure number and overall cholesterol a little — but the data isn't strong enough to say for sure, and it doesn't seem to affect your bottom blood pressure number or triglycerides.
If you're an adult between 20 and 50 who's obese, eating fewer carbs and more fats might be linked to healthier blood pressure, better cholesterol, and lower triglycerides — but we can't say for sure that the diet caused these benefits from this study alone.
Even though low-carb diets can improve some health numbers, in people who are already obese, sticking more closely to a low-carb eating pattern might actually go hand-in-hand with having more body fat and a higher weight.
If obese adults in Iran eat fewer carbs and more fat, they might be less likely to have a group of health problems like high blood pressure and high blood sugar that raise heart disease risk.
For people who are obese, eating a low-carb diet doesn’t seem to make a noticeable difference in their blood sugar or how well their body uses insulin.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.