Low-carb diets meet nutrient needs: Study

New Delhi: Low-carb diets can meet and sometimes even exceed one's nutrient needs, according to a study that examined the scepticism around the nutritional quality of such diets.

Commonly recommended for diabetic patients to manage their sugar levels, low-carb diets restrict the intake of foods high in carbohydrates or added sugar, including sweets, starches, and refined grains.

While low-carb diets have been shown to provide health benefits, including weight loss, researchers said scepticism remains around the nutritional quality of low-carb diets.

Some argue that cutting down on carbs leads to over-consuming protein or fat and under-consuming essential nutrients, the team, including researchers at the University of Vermont, US, said.

For the study, published in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition, they assessed the nutrient adequacy of three different seven-day low-carb meal plans. Two were ketogenic diets - - one that averaged about 20 grams of net carbs per day, while the other averaged about 40 grams of net carbs per day. The third was a more liberal meal plan that contained an average of around 100 grams of net carbs per day.

"All three low-carbohydrate meal plans exceeded recommendations (US) for vitamins A, C, D, E, K, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, B6, folate and B12 in males and females in the age group of 31-70 years and exceeded calcium recommendations for adults in the age group of 31-50 years," the authors wrote.

"Our findings suggest that, in addition to their well-established ability to support weight management, low-carb eating patterns can actually help promote better diet quality and close critical nutrient gaps," co-author Beth Bradley, from the University of Vermont, said.

For certain sub-section of the population -- such as younger women requiring higher amounts of iron or older people needing more calcium -- the low-carb meal plans fall slightly short in a few nutrients, the researchers said.

Further, they found that two of three meal plans in the study -- those containing 40 grams and 100 grams of net carbohydrates, respectively -- also provided more than enough fibre for women aged 31-70 years.

While some low-carb diets are known to be also low on fibre, the researchers said the results do not support the idea.

"The idea that a low-carb diet must also be low in fibre is simply not supported by the data. High-fibre foods are actually an important part of a low-carb lifestyle, in part because fibre-rich food choices can help lower net carbohydrate intake," Bradley explained.

"Non-starchy vegetables, nuts and seeds, and, in moderation, even higher-carb fruits, starchy vegetables and whole grains can contribute fibre to the diet while keeping overall net carb intake in check, especially in the more liberal low-carb approach," the co-author said.

The researchers added that the low-carb meal plans provided more protein than needed to prevent deficiency, without delivering an excessive amount that could be unsafe.