Results from a systematic review and meta-analysis shows that low-carbohydrate diet (LCD) has remarkable benefits on weight loss and cardiovascular risk factors. A low-carbohydrate diet usually involves reduced consumption of grains, legumes, rice, certain dairy products and sometimes fruits and root vegetables.

The systematic review of low-carbohydrate diets used 23 reports that met the criteria of the analysis; which includes 17 clinical investigations and a total of 1,141 obese patients. Low carbohydrate diets were found to be associated with significant decreases in body weight, blood pressure, insulin levels and plasma C-reactive protein. In general, low-carbohydrate diets were found to improve all cardiovascular risk factors. Weight loss in itself also contributes to improved metabolic markers.

Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and keratinise did not change significantly, whereas limited data exist concerning plasma uric acid. LCD was shown to have favourable effects on body weight and major cardiovascular risk factors; however the effects on long-term health are unknown.