Low Carb Diet Reduces Blood Pressure and Chloresterol

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Reported January 27, 2010

Low-Carb Diet Reduces Blood Pressure

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Researchers have found a low-carbohydrate diet helps

people lose weight as effectively as a popular weight loss drug, and trumps the

drug at lowering cholesterol.

Researchers of Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Duke University Medical

Center have shown low-carb diets are more successful in lowering blood pressure

than the weight-loss drug orlistat.

" If people have high blood pressure and a weight problem, a

low-carbohydrate diet might be a better option than a weight loss medication, "

lead study author S. Yancy, Jr., M.D., was quoted as saying.

The study included 146 overweight participants who had typically

associated health problems such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high

cholesterol and arthritis. Over the year-long study, patients improved their

cholesterol and glucose levels and lost an average of almost 10 percent of their

body weight.

Most importantly, almost half of the participants who followed the

low-carb diet decreased or discontinued their high blood pressure medication

compared to 21 percent of the orlistat plus low-fat diet group.

" I expected the weight loss to be considerable with both therapies, but we

were surprised to see blood pressure improve so much more with the

low-carbohydrate diet than with orlistat, " Dr. Yancy said.