Trial reportFrontiers of medicine2021
Low-carbohydrate diets lead to greater weight loss and better glucose homeostasis than exercise: a randomized clinical trial.
Trial report in Frontiers of medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- Combined exercise training and dietary interventions versus independent effect of exercise on ectopic fat in individuals with overweight and obesity: a systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-regression.Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of carbohydrate-restricted diets and macronutrient replacements on cardiovascular health and body composition in adults: a meta-analysis of randomized trials.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2025Pooled it
- The beneficial impact of a low-carbohydrate diet on glycemic variability in insulin-deficient diabetes.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Trial
- Exercise-induced improvement of glycemic fluctuation and its relationship with fat and muscle distribution in type 2 diabetes.Journal of diabetes · 2024Trial
- Metabolic switching in MASLD: therapeutic roles of ketogenic diet, intermittent fasting, and the gut-liver axis.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Review
- Ketogenic diets and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease: a literature review.Cell & bioscience · 2025Review
- Amitriptyline increases food intake via prdx-2 without altering other physiological parameters in C. elegans under a modified bacterial diet.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Associations of Skin Autofluorescence with Diabetic Kidney Disease in Type 2 Diabetes.Biomedicines · 2025Article
- Gut microbiota changes associated with low-carbohydrate diet intervention for obesity.Open life sciences · 2024Article
- Obesity and malnutrition in children and adults: A clinical review.Obesity pillars · 2023Review
- Low-Carbohydrate and Low-Fat Diet with Metabolic-Dysfunction-Associated Fatty Liver Disease.Nutrients · 2023Observational
- Opposite effects of low-carbohydrate high-fat diet on metabolism in humans and mice.Lipids in health and disease · 2023Article
- Associations between Low-Carbohydrate Diets and Low-Fat Diets with Frailty in Community-Dwelling Aging Chinese Adults.Nutrients · 2023Article
- Multi-Trajectories of Macronutrient Intake and Their Associations with Obesity among Chinese Adults from 1991 to 2018: A Prospective Study.Nutrients · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Lifestyle interventions, including dietary adjustments and exercise, are important for obesity management. This study enrolled adults with overweight or obesity to explore whether either low-carbohydrate diet (LCD) or exercise is more effective in metabolism improvement. Forty-five eligible subjects were randomly divided into an LCD group (n = 22) and an exercise group (EX, n = 23). The subjects either adopted LCD (carbohydrate intake < 50 g/day) or performed moderate-to-vigorous exercise (⩾ 30 min/day) for 3 weeks. After the interventions, LCD led to a larger weight loss than EX ( - 3.56 ± 0.37 kg vs. - 1.24 ± 0.39 kg, P < 0.001), as well as a larger reduction in fat mass ( - 2.10 ± 0.18 kg vs. - 1.25 ± 0.24 kg, P = 0.007) and waist circumference ( - 5.25 ± 0.52 cm vs. - 3.45 ± 0.38 cm, P = 0.008). Both interventions reduced visceral and subcutaneous fat and improved liver steatosis and insulin resistance. Triglycerides decreased in both two groups, whereas low-density lipoprotein cholesterol increased in the LCD group but decreased in the EX group. Various glycemic parameters, including serum glycated albumin, mean sensor glucose, coefficient of variability (CV), and largest amplitude of glycemic excursions, substantially declined in the LCD group. Only CV slightly decreased after exercise. This pilot study suggested that the effects of LCD and exercise are similar in alleviating liver steatosis and insulin resistance. Compared with exercise, LCD might be more efficient for weight loss and glucose homeostasis in people with obesity.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.