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The low-carbohydrate-diet score is associated with resting metabolic rate: an epidemiologic study among Iranian adults

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Abstract

Purpose

Low-carbohydrate diet (LCD) has been used for weight loss and preventing obesity, but the association of adherence to LCD and resting metabolic rate (RMR) has not been investigated. This study aimed to investigate the association between the low-carbohydrate-diet score (LCDS) and RMR among Iranian adults.

Methods

This cross-sectional study was conducted on 270 Iranian adults 18–70 y of age. To assess dietary intakes, participants completed a validated food frequency questionnaire. The LCDS was calculated based on carbohydrate, protein and fat intake, expressed as a percentage of energy. The higher score indicates the lower carbohydrate and the higher protein and fat intake. RMR was measured by indirect calorimetry after an overnight fast.

Results

Multivariate-adjusted means showed that RMR significantly increased across tertiles (p = 0.041). However, there were no significant differences in the mean of fat mass (FM) and fat-free mass (FFM) across tertiles of LCDS (p = 0.986 and p = 0.621, respectively). Also LCDS and RMR (r = 0.14, p = 0.021) were found to be correlated, but LCDS and FFM (r = 0.06, p = 0.323), FM (r = −0.05, p = 0.412), had no statistically significant correlation. RMR had a significant positive association with LCDs in the crude model (β = 18.81, 95% CI: 2.55, 35.07, P = 0.024). Moreover, after controlling for covariates this association changed to non-significant (β = −0.14, 95% CI: −7.05, 19.25, P = 0.03).

Conclusion

Adherence to diets lower in carbohydrates and higher in fat and protein were associated with higher RMR. Further studies with a larger sample size are needed to confirm these findings.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the subjects who participated in the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Community Nutrition, School of Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), No 44, Hojjat-dost Alley, Naderi St., Keshavarz Blvd, Tehran, Iran

    Saba Mohammadpour, Parivash Ghorbaninejad, Mojdeh Ebaditabar, Nadia Babaei, Samira Davarzani & Sakineh Shab-Bidar

  2. Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Hossein Shahinfar

  3. Department of Clinical Nutrition, School of Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), Tehran, Iran

    Kurosh Djafarian

Authors
  1. Saba Mohammadpour
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  2. Parivash Ghorbaninejad
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  3. Hossein Shahinfar
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  4. Mojdeh Ebaditabar
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  5. Nadia Babaei
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  8. Sakineh Shab-Bidar
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Contributions

SS-b, Kdj and SM contributed to the conception and design of the study. ME, NB, and SD participated in the acquisition of data. SM, PGh, HSh and SS-b contributed to data analysis, data interpretation, and manuscript drafting and SS-b finalized the manuscript. All of the authors approved the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sakineh Shab-Bidar.

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Ethics approval

This study does not involve any animal testing. This study was conducted according to the guidelines laid down in the Declaration of Helsinki and all procedures involving research study participants were approved by the Tehran University of Medical Sciences (ethic Number: IR.TUMS.VCR.REC.1396.4306). All participants signed written informed consent before the start of the study.

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Mohammadpour, S., Ghorbaninejad, P., Shahinfar, H. et al. The low-carbohydrate-diet score is associated with resting metabolic rate: an epidemiologic study among Iranian adults. J Diabetes Metab Disord 20, 1145–1153 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40200-021-00832-0

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