Effective Weight Loss with Zero-to-Minute Carbohydrate Diet in Obesity

Although the prevalence of adult obesity in the United States in 2011-2012 was 34.9%[1], it increased to 39.8% in 2015-2016, affecting about 93.3 million adults. [2] Physicians and researchers are constantly looking for a better way to manage obesity, yet the prevalence of obesity has constantly been rising over the years. People with obesity are at an increased risk for serious health consequences such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, coronary artery disease, stroke, and mortality,[3] burdening the healthcare cost of the nation. However, many obesity-related consequences are preventable and reversible by maintaining a healthy body weight, keeping the population healthy. In this case series, we present a retrospective study of a successful correlation of significant weight loss with a “zero-to-minute carbohydrate diet,” which is based on corrections of the most fundamental issues of weight gain, postprandial hyperglycemia, and subsequent hypoglycemia associated overcompensated carbohydrate consumption model. The results (i.e., the amount of weight loss in lbs, and the duration of weight loss) were collected from patients’ medical records and further corroborated with patients by clinic visit or telephone call. We hypothesized the mechanism pathway regarding the “zero-to-minute carbohydrate diet” as follows. Physiologically, in people with obesity, after carbohydrate intake, the increase in glucose level causes insulin overproduction in response to underlying insulin resistance, leading to an unintended hypoglycemic episode that triggers reflex sympathetic activity, i.e., hunger, palpitations, sweating, etc., resulting in overcompensation with carbohydrate food and the vicious cycle continues until bed-time, with triglyceride related fat gain. As minimal carbohydrate is given, the stored fat is burned as energy fuel to form glucose (via lipolysis and gluconeogenesis), leading to body fat loss.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Not applicable

The datasets used in this study are openly available at [repository link] and the source code is available on GitHub at [GitHub link].

This work did not receive any external funding.