Article on Low Carbohydrate Diets

 

Are Low-Carb diets bad for your brain?

 

Sub Heading: Weight Loss Diets

 

 

 

Credit to David Derbyshire for this introduction

 

Cutting out carbohydrates may help you lose weight but it can also help you lose your memory.

A study has found that dieters who avoid starchy foods do worse in mental tests than those who are allowed some pasta, bread and potatoes.

Carbohydrates are such an important source of energy for the brain that mental performance drops after just a week on a low carbohydrate diet, the scientists found.

Holly Taylor, who led the research, said: "The study demonstrates that the food you eat can have an immediate impact on cognitive behaviour.

The popular low-carb and no-carb diets have the strongest potential for negative impact on thinking and cognition." The most famous low-carbohydrate regime is the Atkins diet, which peaked in popularity in the early 2000's. It bans carbohydrates such as flour, sugar and potatoes, but it allows protein and fat.

The study, carried out at Tufts University near Boston in the US state of Massachusetts, looked at the impact of low carbohydrate diets on the brain power of 19 women aged 22 to 55.

The volunteers were put on either a low calorie balanced diet or a low carbohydrate diet. Within a week, the 10 women on the low carbohydrate diet were far worse at mental tests than those on the conventional low calorie diet.

 

The tests looked at attention, long term and short term memory, visual attention and spatial memory.

 

The low carbohydrate dieters showed a gradual decline in memory tasks compared with the low calorie dieters. Their reaction time was more sluggish and their visual memory not as good.

 

There was no difference in the hunger levels of the two groups of women.

 

"The data suggest that diets can affect more than just weight," Dr Taylor said. "The brain needs glucose for energy and diets low in carbohydrates can be detrimental to learning, memory and thinking.