Insulin Levels May Determine Diet Effectiveness

If you are not sure what type of weight loss diet is best for you, you may want to have your insulin levels checked. Researchers at Boston Children's Hospital showed that people with high insulin levels lose weight more effectively on low-refined- carbohydrate diets (Journal of the American Medical Association, May 16, 2007). The researchers measured blood insulin levels one half hour after eating. They then placed overweight patients on either low-fat or low-refined-carbohydrate diets. Those with insulin levels above average at 30 minutes after eating lost more weight on the low-refined-carbohydrate diet.

When blood sugar levels rise too high, the pancreas releases too much insulin. This converts sugar to triglycerides. Then you use up the good HDL cholesterol carrying triglycerides from the bloodstream to the liver. Patients on the low-refined- carbohydrate diet had a much greater rise in the good HDL cholesterol and a much greater lowering of triglycerides. Those on the low-fat diet had a greater lowering of the bad LDL cholesterol.

Another study from City College of New York showed that after eating a fatty meal, obese people produce more insulin than thin people do. Blood insulin levels of thin and obese people rise equally high after eating refined carbohydrates. Unlike thin people, obese people have a high rise in insulin after eating a fatty meal. Insulin affects the brain to make a person hungry so he eats more. More on weight loss and nutrition; free newsletter on fitness, nutrition and health.