Low-Carb Mood Swings Are a Myth, Study Claims

Note from Connie: People often like to badmouth the Atkins diet for making you spacey and cranky. Well, a new study, which I asked my capable SUGAR SHOCK! Blog writer/researcher Karen James to report about, completely debunks that theory. Interesting stuff!

Despite jokes that Atkins-style, low-carb, high-fat (LCHF) dieters suffer from mood swings and reduced cognitive function, adherents to such diets experience the same psychological and cognitive effects as those on traditional high-carb, low-fat (HCLF) diets, according to a new Australian study we read about in the Insight Journal Online Magazine.

Using multiple methods to assess the moods, memories and ability to concentrate of 93 overweight and obese subjects during an 8-week period, researchers at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)—Human Nutrition in Adelaide, led by Angela K. Halyburton, found no difference in psychological effects or cognitive ability between the two groups.

According to the study, which was recently published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, although both groups lost weight, the low-carb, high-fat dieters lost more.

Karen James for the SUGAR SHOCK Blog

Comments

[Dan]

I agree wholeheartedly. I used to suffer from brain fog when I was eating a lot of carbs. Now that I've cut out sugar and cut back on starches, my brain works a lot better. Other people are noticing. Some people claim you need at least 130g of carbs per day for proper brain function. Mine does a lot better on less than half that. There is a new book coming out on this very thing, The Brain Trust Program, which Jimmy Moore blogged about a while back. http://www.amazon.com/Brain-Trust-Program-Scientifically-EnhanceAttention/dp/0399533583?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1185251531&sr=1-1