Combined Effects of Resistance Training and Low Carbohydrate or Conventional Diets on Strength, Muscle Mass, Body Composition, Blood Lipids and Endothelium Function

Overweight and obesity prevalence has increased worldwide. Current guidelines recommend health behavior modifications, including better eating habits and regular physical activity (including resistance training - RT) as a strategy to control and prevent the problem. Traditionally, diets poor in energy and fat (conventional diets - CONV) have been recommended to promote losses in body and fat masses; however, there has been recently a growing interest in the academic community to investigate the effects of low carbohydrate diet (LCD) on health outcomes, since this kind of diet appears to be more effective for reducing body mass as compared to CONV. Nevertheless, evidences are scarce regarding the effects of LCD associated to RT on body composition, strength performance, blood lipids, endothelium function and other markers of health, demanding the development of clinical trials aiming to determine the combined health effects of these interventions.