Which diet melts belly fat better?
Greater Loss of Central Adiposity from Low-Carbohydrate versus Low-Fat Diet in Middle-Aged Adults with Overweight and Obesity
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Grown-ups with extra weight tried two diets: one with very few carbs and lots of fat, and one with less fat and fewer calories. The low-carb diet shrank belly fat more, especially in people whose bodies didn’t handle sugar well.
Surprising Findings
The low-fat diet worsened insulin sensitivity despite weight loss.
Most assume weight loss always improves metabolic health—but here, losing weight on a low-fat diet actually made insulin resistance worse.
Practical Takeaways
If you have signs of insulin resistance (belly fat, fatigue after carbs, prediabetes), try reducing carbs instead of just cutting calories.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Grown-ups with extra weight tried two diets: one with very few carbs and lots of fat, and one with less fat and fewer calories. The low-carb diet shrank belly fat more, especially in people whose bodies didn’t handle sugar well.
Surprising Findings
The low-fat diet worsened insulin sensitivity despite weight loss.
Most assume weight loss always improves metabolic health—but here, losing weight on a low-fat diet actually made insulin resistance worse.
Practical Takeaways
If you have signs of insulin resistance (belly fat, fatigue after carbs, prediabetes), try reducing carbs instead of just cutting calories.
Publication
Journal
Nutrients
Year
2021
Authors
Valene Garr Barry, Mariah Stewart, T. Soleymani, R. Desmond, Amy M Goss, B. Gower
Related Content
Claims (6)
If you're middle-aged and your body doesn't respond well to insulin, cutting carbs and eating more fat might help you lose belly fat better than a low-fat diet. But if your body handles insulin normally, both diets work about the same for fat loss.
Cutting carbs works better than cutting fat if you're trying to manage insulin-related health problems like type 2 diabetes.
For middle-aged people with extra weight, cutting carbs a lot might burn more belly fat — especially the dangerous kind around organs — even if you lose the same total weight as someone on a low-fat diet.
Eating fewer carbs and more fat—without counting calories—can help people lose about as much weight as eating less fat and cutting calories. This suggests that what you eat might matter just as much as how much you eat.
In middle-aged people who are overweight, eating fewer carbs and more fat for 15 weeks might help their body respond better to insulin, while cutting calories on a low-fat diet could actually make insulin work worse — and these changes happen even if both groups lose about the same amount of weight.