Linda Gardner's Blog: Is There Science to Support Low Carb?

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Are low-carb diets a fad? Or is there science to support them?

Here’s my interview from earlier this year with a very experienced low-carb researcher, Dr. William Yancy. How does he answer those questions?

Furthermore, what do we really know about how low-carb diets work, and how to make them work well? And what does Dr. Yancy eat himself?

Watch it

Watch a segment of the interview above (transcript). The full 24-minute interview is on our member pages, including captions and transcript:

Is There Science to Support Low Carb? – Dr. William Yancy

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Feedback

Here’s what our members have said about the presentation:

Wow, so many doctors seem afraid to say that natural saturated fats are healthy. Thank you DietDoctor for openly saying that we should eat meat and butter as a part of our healthy diet.
This doctor also seemed to start to say that replacing saturated fats with polyunsaturated fats would be beneficial. I couldn’t disagree more. I feel the high omega 6 industrial seed oils that they have been pushing on us for decades have ruined the health of generations.

Dear Dr. E, the next time you are in America I recommend you go into one of our normal supermarkets. I challenge you to find whole-milk yogurt without added sugar. The reason LCHF is hard to do is that the food environment supports low-fat high-carb. On top of that, we have healthcare providers telling people every day that LCHF is unhealthy and will lead to heart attacks.

I’m just discouraged that one of the top LCHF researchers in the country seemed to me to sound so wishy-washy on the benefits of this way of eating.
– Nancy

I really like this interview. Dr. Yancy seems to believe in a low-carb diet but does not make claims that he cannot support with evidence other than anecdotes. I followed the low fat/high carb diet for many years even though we now know many of the health benefits were never proven, and a lot of things were based on blind faith. I would not want to make the same mistake with LCHF.

I agree that here in the US it is very difficult to follow a low-carb diet. Our local Safeway has tables and display stands all over the store filled with sweets, sodas, and potato chips. For a little variety there’s white bread and cookies. I can imagine how hard it must be to bring a child in there and try to stick to your nutritional goals. Yikes.
– Katherine

Actually the diet recommended now, with high-carbs in the form of whole grains, very low fat, a ton of veggies and lots of fruit is the FAD diet. The low-calorie, high-carb diet is NEW in human history. We have been eating the diet we are designed to eat since creation. Any deviation from that is a FAD. I don’t think we need to worry. The diet that is good for us will come back once public health deteriorates to the point that the NIH wakes up and says: Hey, why don’t we try something completely different just to see if it works. Then the high-fat, low-carb diet will be the new fad – and will become the new normal.
– Barbara

Is There Science to Support Low Carb? – Dr. William Yancy

Low Carb for Beginners