How Low-Carb Diets Hurt Your Mood

By Melinda Page

Cutting back on carbs may bring down your mood faster than your dress size, according to controversial new research.
More than a decade's worth of studies from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Boston, revealed that serotonin, the brain's mood-lifting neurotransmitter, is affected by food, and it turns out that eating carbohydrates, not protein, boosts serotonin production.

Carb deprivation can therefore dampen your mood, making you impatient and grumpy, says Judith Wurtman, PhD, director of the Program in Women's Health at the MIT Clinical Research Center. "It's not going to put you into a full-blown depression, but it can put you on edge," she says.But much like the low-carb diet itself, scientists disagree on the low-mood theory.

Pro-carb-cutters blame mood swings on carb-induced spikes in insulin levels rather than plummeting serotonin. One study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, compared weight loss in low-carb and low-fat dieters, but didn't find a difference in the mood of either group. But a British study from Oxford University of 42 women on low-carb diets found that those with a history of depression experienced a "striking but temporary relapse in symptoms."

While the jury is out, you might want to keep a rice cake on hand if you're going low carb and are prone to low moods.

Originally published in Ladies' Home Journal magazine, June 2004.


Found here:
http://msnwomen.lhj.com/lhj/story.j...tref=cat1490018

Rice cake? No thanks, I can't think of a worse way to spend my carb allowance. And low carb makes me happy every time I look in the mirror, or put on a pair of pants with a 34 inch waist.

I was quite surprised to read about this because since I started Atkins I have been in a so much more of an even and happy mood that my son commented on it (unprompted!).

I am also much less irritable as well as more patient (I think! )

What do you guys think about it???

Wow, that was quick, Tom!

Blah, Blah, Blah......

That article is typical of a hack at the LC lifestyle. But thanks for posting it as it is a very easy one to tear apart.

you might want to keep a rice cake on hand if you're going low carb and are prone to low moods.
This is the funniest thing I have read today! Once again the article is slanted on the whole, "Eat no carbs at all" falacy that the anti LC peoples have. Eat a rice cake? I'd rather eat dog poo on a corn husk!

This article inhibited my serotinin!

I'm not so sure there isn't something to it, at least for a percentage of people. I wouldn't go so far as to reach for the rice cakes, but I know for myself and a few others I've seen, staying too low carb for too long is hard on the energy level and mood.

Nancy LC, what is PSMF? (for your plan)
Thank you

Here's a link to a discussion about it: Trying something new

I've never had an issue with this, but I know I wake up happy every day with how I looked vs. how I used to look. There are mornings you couldn't slap the smile off my face, and being 80 pounds lighter gives back way more energy than whatever theoretical amount we supposedly lose.

I think there may be an element of truth hidden somewhere in that article. One of the reasons I'm overweight is because quite honestly, food made me happy. Bad mood....grab a candy bar.....feel better. (albeit temporary). Since low carbing, I've been finding non-food pick me ups when my mood lags a bit.

it doesn't mention how much carbohydrate one has to eat to boost serotonin. and do you have to "eat" carbs or can they be supplied through gluconeogenesis (the process of converting proteins and fats to glucose which supports the brains need of approx. 100g of carbs/day and helping us lose weight)? what about fat? is it benign?

there is no mention of measuring serotonin levels in research subjects? was this actually observed in people? if so, where are the results?

I know that before LC I was much more irritable and cranky.

My experience is exactly the opposite. I have a better mood on lc. I have a better mood for months...doubt if it qualifies as "temporary".

some more enlightening comments from doctor wurtman that reveal a little more about where she's coming from:


she's managed to characterize carb-eating as an addiction while still recommending a high-carb diet. sheesh!