Carbohydrate Restriction, Dietary Energy Restriction and Weight Loss in Obese Mice: Metabolic Insights

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Our objective was to compare weight loss, body composition, and key metabolic changes in response to carbohydrate restriction (modeling the Atkins diet) relative to dietary energy restriction (DER). Male C57BL/6 mice were randomized into five groups of 20. Group HC mice consumed a high carbohydrate diet and group HF consumed a high fat diet for 14 weeks. The remaining three groups consumed the HF diet for seven weeks to induce obesity and during weeks 8–14 were switched to either: a) an Atkins-like low carbohydrate diet similar to the induction phase of the Atkins diet; b) pair-feeding (PF) with the HC diet to match the energy intake of the Atkins group; or c) a high carbohydrate DER regimen providing 70% of the energy intake consumed by the HF group. At 14 weeks, body weights of the Atkins (40.3 ± 1.1 g) and HF (40.2 ± 1.1 g) groups were greater than the HC (33.0 ± 0.8 g), PF (31.5 ± 0.8 g) and DER (22.7 ± 0.6 g) groups. The Atkins (47.3 ± 1.2 %) and HF (46.8 ± 1.2 %) groups exhibited higher percent fat mass than the HC (35.4 ± 1.1 %), PF (33.9 ± 1.8 %), and DER (19.5 ± 0.8 %) groups. The Atkins and HF groups demonstrated lower bone mineral density than other groups. Relative to the DER group, the Atkins group displayed comparable serum ketone bodies but higher serum cholesterol, triglycerides, leptin, IGF-1, glucose and insulin. In contrast to DER, the Atkins-like diet did not cause weight loss or reduce serum markers associated with obesity-related diseases in mice. Funding provided in part by the Dept. Human Ecology and by N01-CO-12400.