Precision Nutrition on Low Carb Diets

PN on Low-Carb Diets

Precision Nutrition is a pretty good resource for most people, and it's what got me in to nutrition in the first place, over 6 years ago. I like that they are staying pretty up to date with the research, and are not afraid to say "New evidence has come out and we're updating our approach."

Although they haven't fully caught on with the grains and fats, it looks to me like they are heading in that direction. John Berardi (founder) is a smart guy and I'm guessing they will start implementing some of this stuff in the next couple years. 

Check out this article for a great summary of low-carb diets: Lean Liver With A Low-Carb Diet.

They also explain NAFLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease) and look at a study that used low-carb diets to treat it. 

I really like that they acknowledge that the increase in LDL cholesterol seen on a low carb diet is most likely NOT a bad thing, because it is the friendly Type A, large fluffy LDL, and these do not cause any damage to the blood vessels.

Here's what they say in the conclusion: 

In this study, a lower carbohydrate diet had a metabolic advantage over other diets due to more liver lipid oxidation, higher ketones and higher whole body fat oxidation.

Low carbohydrate diets in general have been shown to:

• lead to weight loss
• lead to fat loss
• improve blood triglycerides — a key risk marker for cardiovascular disease
• improve HDL-C — a key risk marker for cardiovascular disease
• increase or cause no change in LDL-C, though it seems to change the size distribution to a more favourable pattern (more large lower density LDL-C).