Low carb diets

Vegans really hate low-carb diets.

This is understandable, because low-carb diets are almost the complete opposite of vegan and vegetarian diets.

Interestingly, low-carb and low-fat vegetarian diets have been compared in a high quality randomized controlled trial called the A to Z study (57).

This study compared Atkins (a low-carb diet) and Ornish (a low-fat vegetarian diet) in a group of overweight/obese premenopausal women.

After a period of 1 year:

• The Atkins group lost more weight than the Ornish group (10.4 vs 5.6 pounds) – the difference was not statistically significant at 12 months.
• The Atkins group had greater decreases in blood pressure.
• The Atkins group had greater increases in HDL cholesterol.
• The Atkins group had a 29.3 mg/dL reduction in triglycerides, compared to 14.9 mg/dL in the Ornish group.

The people in the Ornish group had trouble sticking to the diet and were twice as likely to drop out of the study, indicating that the Atkins diet was easier to follow.

This is the best study available that compares low-carb and low-fat vegetarian diets. The results are clear.

Until another controlled trial leads to a different result, there is absolutely no scientific basis for vegan proponents to claim that low-carb diets are inferior to vegan diets from a health perspective.

Additionally… many other studies have been conducted on low-carb diets. Since the year 2002, over 20 randomized controlled trials have demonstrated that low-carb diets are superior to low-fat diets.

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