Low-carb diets reduce memory skills

William Atkins
Monday, 15 December 2008 20:09

Science - Health

An American study found that women on a low-carbohydrate diet did more poorly on memory-based tests than other female dieters on a reduced calorie weight-loss plan. Basically, their brains did not work well because not enough energy was produced by low-carb foods.


U.S. psychologist Holly A. Taylor, assistant professor of psychology at Tufts University (Medford, Massachusetts, U.S.A.), lead a study into the affects of a low-carbohydrate diet with respect to memory.

The conclusion of the research will appear in the February 2009 issue (pages 96-103) of the journal Appetite, and is currently available online. Its title is “Low-carbohydrate weight-loss diets. Effects on cognition and mood.”

The other researchers of the study were Kristen E. D’Anci, Kara L. Watts, and Robin B. Kanarek.

The purpose of the study was to determine the affects of cognitive performance (the act of acquiring knowledge and information) when people are on a low-carbohydrate (“low-carb”) diet.

The female subjects participated in one of two different types of weight-loss diets: a low-carbohydrate diet or a reduced-calorie balanced diet (as recommended by the American Dietetic Association (ADA), which reduced calories but maintained carbohydrates).

Seventy-two hours before beginning either diet the participants took a series of cognitive tasks to assess their “visuospatial memory, vigilance attention, memory span, a food-related paired-associates a food Stroop, and the Profile of Moods Scale (POMS) to assess subjective mood.”

The same tests were also taken one, two, and three weeks after beginning the diets.

What did the researchers discover between the performance of the low-carb dieters and the low-calorie dieters? And why? Please read page two.