A two-year low-carb diet that more than doubled saturated fat moved blood lipids in mixed directions

What the research found

Medical Xpress posted this on 27 October 2026. A secondary analysis of the Norwegian CARBFUNC trial, led by Simon Dankel and Cathrine Loddervik at the University of Bergen, is reported in eBioMedicine (DOI 10.1016/j.ebiom.2026.106524). It followed 193 adults with obesity near Bergen for up to two years on three diets. One arm was high in total fat and saturated fat, with carbohydrate under 10 percent of energy and close to a third of energy from saturated fat. Two arms followed guideline-style carbohydrate patterns, one refined and one minimally refined. Energy targets were about 2,500 kcal for men and 2,000 kcal for women, with the same protein, added sugar around 1 to 2 percent of energy, and 500 grams of vegetables a day. On the high-fat arm, LDL cholesterol rose about 5 to 10 percent, mainly in larger particles, while small dense LDL changed little. The authors said a moderate LDL rise is not necessarily meaningless. Triglycerides fell about 20 to 35 percent and HDL rose about 5 to 18 percent on the high-fat arm, with little change on the higher-carbohydrate arms. Apolipoprotein B neither rose nor differed appreciably between groups. Coronary calcium on CT at 12 months showed no clear increase and no group difference. Dankel said more research is needed on long-term disease risk. The line that the LDL change cannot be dismissed is the authors' interpretation. This is not advice to raise saturated fat. Age and sex splits beyond the calorie targets were not stated. Not medical advice.

Evidence level: Human study. A study in people, but an association isn't proof of cause.

Read the original at Medical Xpress