Over the 20 weeks, total energy expenditure was significantly greater on the low-carbohydrate diet versus the high-carbohydrate diet. At the same average body weight, participants who consumed the low-carb diet burned about 250 kilocalories a day more than those on the high-carb diet.Anyone who has done a ketogenic diet knows this intuitively. You just feel like you have more energy being produced.
"If this difference persists—and we saw no drop-off during the 20 weeks of our study—the effect would translate into about a 20-pound weight loss after three years, with no change in calorie intake," says Ebbeling.
In people with the highest insulin secretion at baseline, the difference in calorie expenditure between the low- and high-carb diets was even greater, about 400 kilocalories per day, consistent with what the Carbohydrate-Insulin Model would predict. Ghrelin, a hormone thought to reduce calorie burning, was significantly lower on the low- versus high-carb diet.
But that's different than documenting it.
A big Thank You to this research team.
