Will a Low-Carb Diet Lower Your Mood?
Wednesday November 11, 2009
Oh, my, the science reporters are at it again. A new study was published this week in the Archives of Internal Medicine about diets and mood. Basically what happened over the course of a year was that both the low-carb and low-fat groups had modest elevation of mood over the first 8 weeks. The low-fat group on average sustained the elevated mood, where the low-carb group, on average, returned to the mood they had at the beginning. From this we get headlines such as "Low-Fat Diet Makes People Less Angry Than Low-Carb, Study Says" (neither diet "makes you angry"), "Low carb dieters more grumpy" (no more grumpy than they started out!) and even "Low carb diet may land you in depression" (oh, puh-lease).As I explained to Courtney Hutchinson, reporter for ABC News, many many people have reported improvements in mood in the long-term while following a low-carb way of eating. (Added Nov. 17: See comments below for examples!) So, how can we explain this result? There are a few possibilities which occur to me:
- The study limited calories in both groups. We know from previous research and experience that limiting calories is not needed to lose weight on a low-carb diet. One of the positive aspects of low-carb eating is that people are able to follow their natural appetites once the carb cravings are elminiated by low-carb eating. Could it be that limiting both carbs and calories is a problem?
- We aren't told what people were eating before the study started, or at any point in the study. The "low fat" group was eating 45% carbohydrate, which is lower than usual for a low-fat diet. This probably was a reduction in the amount of carbohydrate the participants were eating. So people that would benefit from a mild carbohydrate reduction could have benefited from this probably unintended effect.
- The diet stayed very low in carbs throughout the year. One of the strengths of diets such as the Atkins Diet is that they help people zero in on the best amount of carbohydrate for that individual. 40 grams of carbohydrate is less than optimal for many people over the long-term.
Of course, we don't know what the reason was for the difference in the groups in this study, which the researchers admit in their paper. They speculate that low-carb eating is too much of a change from the "normal Western diet".
What do you think? Answer in the comments below.
Nov 15 Update: Atkins Nutritionals has responded to the study with some additional interesting points.
Photo: Dimitri Vervitsiotis/Getty Images
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Before the study ever began, twice as many people assigned to the low-carb group were taking antidepressants.
So the investigators are comparing apples to oranges.
Nevertheless, if you diet – whatever it is – is adversely affecting your mood, change your eating habits!
-Steve
I have been following a low carb diet for many years and was in a good mood until I read this paper. This group is famous for putting a negative spin on low carb diets even when their data show the opposite. A group with this bias must surely affect the outcome, especially if they were present when measurements were made. We published the results of a poll of the Low-carbers forum (http://forum.lowcarber.org) which is a real setting. Results on mood:
Mood
Greatly improved - 2565 37.31%
Slightly improved - 2260 32.87%
No change - 1657 24.10%
Slightly worse - 319 4.64%
Much worse - 74 1.08%
Total Answers - 6875
Our paper is available without subscription at:
http://www.nutritionj.com/content/pdf/1475-2891-5-26.pdf
I just celebrated my first year of a low carb lifestyle. My doctor put me on the Protein Power method of eating. I can’t say it is a diet, but a lifestyle. In the first 6 months, I lost 65 pounds and got back to the gym, ramped up my walking, and studied Tai Chi. I have been able to go off medications for acid reflux and depression. I have never felt better in my life eating low carb. Thanks to this site, I have great recipes and a healthy life again. There are many thingds now that I will never eat again, but I am ok with that, and certainly not grumpy. Thanks Laura, you are doing a valuable service for so many of us.
Saw the movie Fathead just recently and couldn’t help but be reminded of Naughton’s story that he’d followed a low fat diet twice before in his life and they were the only two times he’d ever been depressed.
Also, after complaining to my doctor about my low mood, she suggested to me in part that I was probabaly eating too much carbohydrate. Instead she advised that I should make sure I have enough protein and veggies and lay off the strach and sugar, because these play havoc with your mood and leave you feeling grumpy, tired and depressed. Worked for me.
Yes, anectodal. But two true cases with different outcomes than the study! hmmm….
Depression is associated with low cholesterol, and low-carb diets reduce cholesterol. I had to up my carbs a bit when my cholesterol went from 250 to 160 on low carb. Closer to 200-210 is much better for my moods. YMMV.
Five years ago I quit smoking and tried to follow all the nutritional advice from the experts during and after my quit. Up to that point I had always followed a low carb way of eating. The first “rule” was to follow the pyramid of grains first, etc which meant no more low carb. I couldn’t figure out why for a year and a half I felt really sick when I wasn’t smoking and was eating “the right way”. I finally decided I had to go back to my low carb way of life, threw out the food “pyramid” and after 2 days of eating low carb again I felt like I had had a whole body transplant. My personal experience has been completely the opposite of this rearcher’s paper.
After I get through the 2nd-week-of-low-carb-grumpiness, my mood is SO much better when I’m on low carb. Low carb seems to have the best effects on people with insulin issues (diabetes, pre-diabetes, PCOS, metabolic syndrome, etc.), and flattening out the sugar highs and lows that those conditions can result in can help one’s mood immensely. I suffer from depression naturally, and eating low carb can alleviate the symptoms. It’s not a “cure”, because it comes back when I’m back on sugar and complex carbs, but the mood issues are really WHY eating low carb is so important to me, and the weight-loss is a tangential benefit.
I’ve been eating low carb 2 years now. And I stay at 20 to control my type 2 diabetes ( keep my BGLs in non diabetic levels).
I’ve never felt better or had this mych energy in my whole life!
I feel the research was so flawed it’s not even worth the paper it’s printed on.
Hugs,
G
As Kat comments, low carb eating is particulary good for people with “insulin issues” (PCOS, diabetes, pre-diabetes, etc.). Sugar highs and lows definitely affect our moods. When we reduce the carbs we stabilize those sugar spikes and it must have a positive effect on our moods, reduces obesity, etc.
However, some people don’t have insulin issues. So the effects of low carb eating may not have the same effect on them as it does for us.
Thanks for pointing out the flaws in this research. Another one that’s not addressed are do these people have “insulin issues”? It’s important factor to consider.
I got off my crabby pill over 2 months ago and never told my husband and my moods have really improved since I stared eating low carbs, just wanted to see if he would notice, his remarks would be “are you on your pills?” And I haven’t heard him say that so I much be pretty good. Thanks for your site. Love it. Kathy
If regulating your blood sugar, reducing your blood pressure, eliminating constipation, and feeling good about yourself makes you depressed, I think there must be more issues involved. Low carb diets have literally saved thousands of peoples lives in various ways. I’ve been on a low carb diet for 9+ years, after failing on dozens of others. When I started on it, I was told I would die soon from a variety of ailments. The medical establishment will never admit that they have been wrong all of these years and that this diet works. I thank Dr. Atkins every day for his tireless persistance and efforts. A BIG thanks to you and your site, too, for giving us great tips and receipes!