[thinner4u]

The Ultra-Low-Fat Diet

An ultra-low-fat diet restricts your consumption of fat to under 10% of daily calories.

Generally, a low-fat diet provides around 30% of its calories as fat.

Studies reveal that this diet is ineffective for weight loss in the long term.

Proponents of the ultra-low-fat diet claim that traditional low-fat diets are not low enough in fat and that fat intake needs to stay under 10% of total calories to produce health benefits and weight loss.

How it works: An ultra-low-fat diet contains 10% or fewer calories from fat. The diet is mostly plant-based and has a limited intake of animal products (66Trusted Source).

Therefore, it’s generally very high in carbs — around 80% of calories — and low in protein — at 10% of calories.

Weight loss: This diet has proven very successful for weight loss among obese individuals. In one study, obese individuals lost an average of 140 pounds (63 kg) on an ultra-low-fat diet (67Trusted Source).

Another 8-week study with a diet containing 7–14% fat showed an average weight loss of 14.8 pounds (6.7 kg).

Other benefits: Studies suggest that ultra-low-fat diets can improve several risk factors for heart disease, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and markers of inflammation.

Surprisingly, this high-carb, low-fat diet can also lead to significant improvements in type 2 diabetes.

Furthermore, it may slow the progression of multiple sclerosis — an autoimmune disease that affects your brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves in the eyes.

The downside: The fat restriction may cause long-term problems, as fat plays many important roles in your body. These include helping build cell membranes and hormones, as well as helping your body absorb fat-soluble vitamins.

Moreover, an ultra-low-fat diet limits intake of many healthy foods, lacks variety, and is extremely hard to stick to.

SUMMARY

An ultra-low-fat diet contains less than 10% of its calories from fat. It can cause significant weight loss and may also have impressive benefits for heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and multiple sclerosis.