Low Carbohydrate Diet Versus Low Fat Diet in Reversing the Metabolic Syndrome Using NCEP ATP III Criteria

The National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel-III (NCEP ATP III) definition of metabolic syndrome (MetS)is one of the most widely used criteria of metabolic syndrome. It incorporates the key features of hyperglycemia/insulin resistance, visceral obesity, dyslipidemia and hypertension. According to the NCEP ATP III guidelines, in our study, the participants having the metabolic syndrome if they possess three or more of the following criteria: abdominal obesity: Increased waist circumference, Elevated serum triglycerides, Reduced high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), Elevated blood pressure both systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic and Elevated fasting blood glucose. Although the pathogenesis of MetS is strongly linked to excessive food consumption, in particular fat intake, still there is no consensus about the effects of low carbohydrate diet (LCD) versus low fat diet (LFD) on reversing the MetS and on its metabolic risk factors. However, concerns have been raised with regard to the macronutrient shift with high carbohydrate restriction and the substantial intakes of fats, which may present unfavorable effects on cardiovascular disease risk factors. Meanwhile the LFD has generally been supported by studies to have beneficial effects on these risk factors. There is no consensus about the effects of LCD versus LFD on the metabolic syndrome. This study investigated the effects of LCD versus LFD on the obese peoples and followed up them for 6 months. Out of 289 obese adults apparently healthy were randomly chosen by a stratified multistage probability sampling method, 94 of them are agreed to participate in the study. They were assigned randomly into low carbohydrate and low-fat diet groups. Both groups were followed up for 6 months and the data were taken at baseline, after 3 months and 6 months of intervention. Ninety-four obese participants completed the intervention.