Low-carb dieting: slimmer but sadder? Low-carbohydrate, high-protein diets have done well in some head-to-head comparisons with other diets. And no matter what the diet, shedding a few pounds usually makes people happier. But some research suggests Atkins-like diets could make people’s moods a little darker.
Carbohydrates promote the synthesis of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that seems to play a significant role in mood control. Some evidence suggests that avoiding carbs could reduce serotonin concentrations, giving some folks a case of the low-carb blues. And when diets have been tested for a short time in physically active people without a weight problem, low-carb eating has led to more fatigue and bad moods than high-carb eating.
Australian researchers randomly assigned 93 overweight people to either a low- or high-carb eating plan. At the end of the two-month study, the low-carb dieters had lost a bit more weight (17 pounds versus 14 pounds), and a battery of standardized tests didn’t find a negative influence on their mood. But the low-carb dieters, on average, lagged behind the high-carb dieters in a test designed to measure the speed of mental processing.
Harvard Health Letter
