Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Oct;34(10):2785-2792.
doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000003749.

A 28-Day Carbohydrate-Restricted Diet Improves Markers of Cardiovascular Disease in Professional Firefighters

Hunter S Waldman  1   2 , JohnEric W Smith  2 , John Lamberth  2 , Brent J Fountain  3 , Richard J Bloomer  4 , Matthew B Butawan  4 , Matthew J McAllister  5
Affiliations

A 28-Day Carbohydrate-Restricted Diet Improves Markers of Cardiovascular Disease in Professional Firefighters

Hunter S Waldman et al. J Strength Cond Res. 2020 Oct.

Abstract

Waldman, HS, Smith, JW, Lamberth, J, Fountain, BJ, Bloomer, RJ, Butawan, MB, and McAllister, MJ. A 28-day carbohydrate-restricted diet improves markers of cardiovascular disease in professional firefighters. J Strength Cond Res 34(10): 2785-2792, 2020-This study compared the effects of a 4-week, nonketogenic, carbohydrate-restricted (<25% of calories) diet (CRD) on markers of inflammation and oxidative stress in professional firefighters (FF). Subjects (n = 15) reported to the laboratory for 2 sessions (i.e., baseline and post-CRD) where blood was drawn from an antecubital vein after a 10-hour overnight fast. Dependent variables measured at baseline and post-CRD included adiponectin, insulin, human growth hormone, cortisol, C-reactive protein, albumin, lipids, glucose, amylase, creatine kinase, malondialdehyde (MDA), advance oxidation protein products (AOPP), total nitrate + nitrite, and soluble intracellular adhesion molecule-1. Compared with baseline, the CRD resulted in dramatic improvements to subjects' cardiometabolic profiles, including decreases in AOPP (51.3 ± 27.3 vs. 32.9 ± 7.9 ng·ml), MDA (1.6 ± 0.6 vs. 1.1 ± 0.5 µmol·L), and triglycerides (84.4 ± 34.4 vs. 64.2 ± 14.4 mg·dl), respectively. In addition, the CRD increased total cholesterol (151.5 ± 23.0 vs. 167.7 ± 38.2 mg·dl) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (46.3 ± 12.7 vs. 50.6 ± 15.5 mg·dl), but no differences were found with low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Overall, our results show a 4-week CRD can favorably improve some markers of cardiovascular health in male FF.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Abel MG, Mortara AJ, Pettitt RW. Evaluation of circuit-training intensity for firefighters. J Strength Cond Res 25: 2895–2901, 2011.
    1. Abel MG, Palmer TG, Trubee N. Exercise program design for structural firefighters. Strength Cond J 37: 8–19, 2015.
    1. Arsenault BJ, Rana JS, Stroes ES, et al. Beyond low-density lipoprotein cholesterol: Respective contributions of non–high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, triglycerides, and the total cholesterol/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio to coronary heart disease risk in apparently healthy men and women. J Am Coll Cardiol 55: 35–41, 2009.
    1. Bengtsson BA, Edén S, Lönn L, et al. Treatment of adults with growth hormone (GH) deficiency with recombinant human GH. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 76: 309–317, 1993.
    1. Briel M, Ferreira-Gonzalez I, You JJ, et al. Association between change in high density lipoprotein cholesterol and cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality: Systematic review and meta-regression analysis. BMJ 338: b92, 2009.

LinkOut - more resources

-