Abstract
Objective
To determine if consumption of a reduced-carbohydrate (CHO) diet would result in preferential
loss of adipose tissue under eucaloric conditions, and whether changes in adiposity
were associated with changes in postprandial insulin concentration.
Methods
In a crossover-diet intervention, 30 women with PCOS consumed a reduced-CHO diet (41:19:40%
energy from CHO:protein:fat) for 8 weeks and a standard diet (55:18:27) for 8 weeks. Body composition by DXA and fat distribution by CT were assessed at baseline
and following each diet phase. Insulin AUC was obtained from a solid meal test (SMT)
during each diet phase.
Results
Participants lost 3.7% and 2.2% total fat following the reduced-CHO diet and STD diet,
resp. (p < 0.05 for difference between diets). The reduced-CHO diet induced a decrease in subcutaneous-abdominal,
intra-abdominal, and thigh-intermuscular adipose tissue (−7.1%, −4.6%, and −11.5%, resp.), and the STD diet induced a decrease in total lean mass. Loss of fat
mass following the reduced CHO diet arm was associated with lower insulin AUC (p < 0.05) during the SMT.
Conclusions
In women with PCOS, consumption of a diet lower in CHO resulted in preferential loss
of fat mass from metabolically harmful adipose depots, whereas a diet high in CHO
appeared to promote repartitioning of lean mass to fat mass.
Abbreviations:
PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome), CHO (carbohydrate), NIH (National Institutes of Health), BMI (body mass index), STD (standard), DXA (dual energy x-ray absorptiometry), CT (computed tomography), NDSR (Nutrition Data System for Research), IAAT (intra-abdominal adipose tissue), SAAT (subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue), IMAT (intermuscular adipose tissue), SAT (subcutaneous adipose tissue), PMAT (perimuscular adipose tissue), CRU (Clinical Research Unit), AUC (area-under-the-curve), CV (coefficient of variation)Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: July 18, 2014
Accepted:
July 12,
2014
Received:
February 7,
2014
Footnotes
☆Supported by: R01HD054960, UL1RR025777, P30DK56336, P60DK079626.
Identification
Copyright
© 2014 Elsevier Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
