Low-Carb Diet Helps Reduce Risk of Heart Disease, Aids Weight Loss; A Look At Celebs Who Adopted The Diet

The new study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine and financed by the National Institutes of Health, included a group of 150 men and women who were asked to follow a diet for a year that restricted the amount of either carbs or fat that they should consume, reported The New York Times.

Dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy from Tufts University, Dariush Mozaffarian, said that this was one of the first long-term trials that involve diets without restrictions on calorie. The dean said that just cutting carbohydrates and not worrying about calories can help one lose weight.

Dr. Robert Atkins popularized the low-carb, high-fat approach in the seventies and has become increasingly popular for weight loss. Criticisms of the diet include that people lose weight in the form of water and not body fat, leading to the rise in heart disease risk factors.

Dr. Lydia A. Bazzano from the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine said that the general assumption is that with this diet, saturated fat is going to increase, causing cholesterol to go up. She suggests that this will lead to bad things happening. The new study proves the criticism wrong.

After the end of a year of the study, people in the low-carb diet group had lost around 8 pounds more on an average in comparison to those who participated in the low-fat diet. They had reduced body fat as well as showed an improvement in lean muscle mass. The low-fat group lost weight as well but they lost more muscle than fat.

A lot of celebrities are losing weight with the help of this diet. Here is a look at a few.

Miranda Kerr

Australian model Miranda Kerr follows a low-carb, gluten-free diet along with which she does yoga, Pilates and dance workouts that help her maintain her supermodel physique.

Read more about it: 'Actress Miranda Kerr Loses 40 Pounds After Pregnancy With A Low-Carb, Gluten-Free Diet and Yoga'

Kim Kardashian

Kim Kardashian lost 50 pounds after the birth of her daughter, North, by adopting the low-carb Atkins diet in addition to weight training workouts.

Read more about it: 'Kim Kardashian Flaunts 50 Pounds Weight Loss Aided by Low-Carb Ketogenic Diet, Sizzles in Bikini Body'