Relationship between Ketones, Ghrelin, and, Appetite on Isocaloric Diets with Varying Carbohydrate Quality and Amount: Results from a Randomized Controlled Trial in People with Obesity (CARBFUNC)

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial paper looks at Ghrelin.

To evaluated short- (3 mo) and long-term (12 mo) changes in fasting plasma concentrations of total ghrelin, β-hydroxybutyrate (βHB), and subjective feelings of appetite on 3 isocaloric eating patterns within a moderate caloric range (2000-2500 kcal/d) and with varying carbohydrate quality or quantity.

Why It Was Studied

However, studies of diets without severe energy restriction are lacking, and the effects of carbohydrate quality relative to quantity have not been directly compared.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 193 adults taking part.

PubMed indexes the participants as adults.

The researchers performed a randomized controlled trial of 193 adults with obesity, comparing eating patterns based on "acellular" carbohydrate sources (e.g., flour-based whole-grain products; comparator arm), "cellular" carbohydrate sources (minimally processed foods with intact cellular structures), or LCHF principles.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized study.

The adults were allocated by chance, so the Ghrelin group and the comparison group should start out alike.

Outcomes were compared by an intention-to-treat analysis using constrained linear mixed modeling.

This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT03401970.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Appetite, Ghrelin, Ketones, Dietary Carbohydrates, Energy Intake, Obesity and Diet, Fat-Restricted.

The authors tagged it with the keywords ketosis and randomized controlled trial.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized study of Ghrelin in 193 adults.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 7 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2023 (The Journal of nutrition), a journal based in United States.

More context: the Ghrelin compound page, all human trials.