Short- and long-term effects of a reduction diet by separation of carbohydrate and fat intake

The known principles of carbohydrate and fat metabolism were applied to design a slimming diet providing all essential nutrient, and, additionally, minimizing fat storage. 203 obese persons (BMI 25.0-47.2 kg/m(2)) participated in the study, obesity related diseases were hypertension, diabetes mellitus type I and type U, hyperuricemia, and hyperlipidemia. The obese persons attended a training programme providing the usual information (eating behaviour and physical activity) and a dietary training programme (separation of carbohydrate and fat intake). In the latter they were advised to take complex carbohydrates in the morning and for lunch, and fat only in the evening, six hours after the last intake of carbohydrates. Fruit and vegetables low in carbohydrates (< 5 g/100 g edible portion) were allowed to all meals and served as snacks. The obese persons were advised to take two snacks of appropriate composition per day at appropiate times in accordance with the principles of the diet. During the first three weeks the participants were asked to complete a dietary protocol to assess the adherence to the principles of the diet. Every Week the participants attended a 1.5 hours training programme and body weight was recorded. At the beginning and at the end of, the 10 weeks' observation period fasting blood samples were taken for laboratory analysis. 27 of the 203 obese persons did not complete the study (3 accidents, 8 acute illness, 1 illness of a family member, 5 because of lack of time, 4 because of no motivation, 6 for unknown reason). The remaining 176 participants lost 6.3+3.0 (mean +SD) kg body weight (range 0.7-18.6 kg). Three diabetics on insulin (IDDM) and 26 patients with hypertension could reduce drug treatment during the study. Plasmacholesterol decreased by 14.9 %. Patient compliance with the diet was very well; at the end of the programme 95.6 % of the participants were satisfied with the outcome of the programme Separation of carbohydrate and fat intake is an efficient programme easily transmissable to obese persons. This high-fibre and low-fat diet promotes weight reduction due to ineffective transformation of complex carbohydrates to fat and limited fat storage during lipolysis.