In summary, when energy intake was matched, the VLC-HF diet provided no advantage over the HC-LF diet in loss of body fat,
decrease in plasma cholesterol levels, improvement in fasting or post-load insulin resistance, or restoration of glycemic control in dietary obese rats.
These results underscore the need for strict control of energy intake in studies of the effects of VLC diets on obesity and the metabolic syndrome.
Although rats on the VLC-HF diet did show lower plasma triacylglycerol levels than did rats on the HC-LF diet by the end of Phase 2, this reduction was accompanied by retarded loss of hepatic, retroperitoneal, and total body fat mass.
These latter findings support the view that a VLC-HF diet may promote storage of fat by the liver, visceral fat pads, and other sites as compared with an HC-LF diet.