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Peer-reviewedCC BYCell press blue

Effects of refined carbohydrates on immune markers after weight loss on a very-low-carbohydrate diet: A randomized controlled feeding trial.

  • Ezequiel Dantas1,2
  • Yushu Shi3
  • Jeshua Kim1
  • Anirudh Murthy2
  • Alexander Emmanuelli1
  • Shiri Li2
  • Tiffany Perrier2
  • Tanvir Ahmed2
  • Isaac Nathoo2
  • Carolina E Echeverria1
  • Yingzhao Wang1
  • Omar Abdallah1
9 more authors
  • Tobias Janowitz4,5
  • Maurice A Hurd2
  • Noriko Suzuki-Kemuriyama1,6
  • Cara B Ebbeling7
  • David B Allison8,9
  • Benjamin D Hopkins10
  • Lewis C Cantley11
  • David S Ludwig7,12
  • Marcus D Goncalves1,2,13
13 affiliations
  1. 1Department of Medicine, NYU Langone Health, New York, NY 10016, USA.
  2. 2Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY 10065, USA.
  3. 3Department of Population Health Sciences, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY 10065, USA.
  4. 4Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724, USA.
  5. 5Northwell Health, Manhasset, NY 11030, USA.
  6. 6Faculty of Applied Bioscience, Department of Nutritional Science and Food Safety, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Setagaya, Tokyo 156-8502, Japan.
  7. 7The New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
  8. 8Department of Pediatrics and USDA Children's Nutrition Research Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
  9. 9Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA.
  10. 10Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY 10065, USA.
  11. 11Department of Cell Biology and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
  12. 12Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen, 2730 Herlev, Denmark.
  13. 13Lead contact.
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Abstract

This study explored the effects of three diets differing in the amount and type of carbohydrates on peripheral immune markers. After a 15% weight loss with a very-low-carbohydrate diet (VLCD), participants were randomized to isocaloric diets: VLCD, high-carbohydrate diet with high starch content (HC-Starch), or high-carbohydrate diet with high sugar content (HC-Sugar). Changes in peripheral immune markers were assessed in 44 participants using multimodal analyses before randomization and after 10 weeks on the diet. In HC-Starch, cytometry by time of flight (CyTOF) revealed significant shifts in proportions of circulating natural killer (NK) cells and increased activation markers in NK cells, monocytes, T cells, dendritic cells, and neutrophils. In agreement, transcriptomics showed upregulation of immune and metabolic pathways with HC-Starch but reductions with HC-Sugar. Cytokine analysis and mouse experiments suggested that increased adipsin and complement activation could underlie these changes. Following weight loss with VLCD, starch-rich diets serve as an unrecognized driver of inflammation. This study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03394664.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{dantas2026effects,
  title = {{Effects of refined carbohydrates on immune markers after weight loss on a very-low-carbohydrate diet: A randomized controlled feeding trial.}},
  author = {Ezequiel Dantas and Yushu Shi and Jeshua Kim and Anirudh Murthy and Alexander Emmanuelli and Shiri Li and Tiffany Perrier and Tanvir Ahmed and Isaac Nathoo and Carolina E Echeverria and Yingzhao Wang and Omar Abdallah and Tobias Janowitz and Maurice A Hurd and Noriko Suzuki-Kemuriyama and Cara B Ebbeling and David B Allison and Benjamin D Hopkins and Lewis C Cantley and David S Ludwig and Marcus D Goncalves},
  journal = {Cell press blue},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.1016/j.cpblue.2026.100122},
  url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42899010},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Effects of refined carbohydrates on immune markers after weight loss on a very-low-carbohydrate diet: A randomized controlled feeding trial.
AU  - Ezequiel Dantas
AU  - Yushu Shi
AU  - Jeshua Kim
AU  - Anirudh Murthy
AU  - Alexander Emmanuelli
AU  - Shiri Li
AU  - Tiffany Perrier
AU  - Tanvir Ahmed
AU  - Isaac Nathoo
AU  - Carolina E Echeverria
AU  - Yingzhao Wang
AU  - Omar Abdallah
AU  - Tobias Janowitz
AU  - Maurice A Hurd
AU  - Noriko Suzuki-Kemuriyama
AU  - Cara B Ebbeling
AU  - David B Allison
AU  - Benjamin D Hopkins
AU  - Lewis C Cantley
AU  - David S Ludwig
AU  - Marcus D Goncalves
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/09
JO  - Cell press blue
DO  - 10.1016/j.cpblue.2026.100122
UR  - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42899010
AB  - This study explored the effects of three diets differing in the amount and type of carbohydrates on peripheral immune markers. After a 15% weight loss with a very-low-carbohydrate diet (VLCD), participants were randomized to isocaloric diets: VLCD, high-carbohydrate diet with high starch content (HC-Starch), or high-carbohydrate diet with high sugar content (HC-Sugar). Changes in peripheral immune markers were assessed in 44 participants using multimodal analyses before randomization and after 10 weeks on the diet. In HC-Starch, cytometry by time of flight (CyTOF) revealed significant shifts in proportions of circulating natural killer (NK) cells and increased activation markers in NK cells, monocytes, T cells, dendritic cells, and neutrophils. In agreement, transcriptomics showed upregulation of immune and metabolic pathways with HC-Starch but reductions with HC-Sugar. Cytokine analysis and mouse experiments suggested that increased adipsin and complement activation could underlie these changes. Following weight loss with VLCD, starch-rich diets serve as an unrecognized driver of inflammation. This study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03394664.
SN  - 3051-3839
ER  -