Objective: Chronic inflammation is associated with elevated risk of heart disease and maybe linked to oxidative stress in obesity. Our objective was to evaluate the effect of weight loss diet composition (low carbohydrate, high fat, LC or high carbohydrate, low fat, HC) on inflammation and to determine whether this was related to oxidative stress. Methods: Twenty nine overweight women, BMI 32.1 5.4 kg/m2, were randomly assigned to aself- selectedLCorHC diet for 4 wks. Weekly group sessions and diet record collections helped enhance compliance. Bodyweight, markers of inflammation (serum interleukin-6, IL-6; C-reactive protein, CRP) oxidative stress (urinary8-epi-prostaglandin F2,8-epi) and fasting blood glucose and free fatty acids were measured weekly. Results: The diets were similar in caloric intake (1357 kcal/dLCvs. 1361 HC, p 0.94), but differed in macronutrients (58,12,30 and 24,59,18 for percent of energy as fat, carbohydrate, and protein for LC and HC, respectively). Although LC lost more weight (3.81.2 kg LC vs. 2.6 1.7 HC, p0.04), CRP increased 25%; this factor was reduced 43%in HC (p 0.02). For both groups, glucose decreased with weight loss (85.4 vs. 82.1 mg/dlforbaselineandwk 4, p 0.01), while IL-6 increased (1.39 to 1.62 pg/mL, p 0.04). Urinary 8-epivaried differently over time between groups (p 0.05) with no consistent pattern. Conclusion: Diet composition of the weight loss diet influenced a key marker of inflammation in that LC increased whileHCreduced serum CRP but evidence did not support that this was related to oxidative stress. INTRODUCTION The proportion of overweight and obese US adults and children continues to rise with each national survey conducted. The most recent data from the NHANES survey in 2001-2002 shows that 65.1%of adults are overweight and 30.4%are obese [1]. Low carbohydrate weight loss diets are currently one of the more popular weight loss strategies with an estimated 20 million people using this diet worldwide[2]. Traditionally, nutritionists have cautioned against use of LC diets because the high fat and cholesterol intake was thought to cause an increase in blood lipids and thus heart disease. However, recently a number of laboratories have reported that weight loss and blood lipid changes are at least comparable or even superior with a LCcompared to alow fat, HC approach[3-6]. Although important, elevated blood lipids are only one risk factor for heart disease. Many people develop heart disease concurrent with normal blood lipids. One blood marker, C-reactive protein (CRP), for example, appears to increase heart disease risk independent of blood lipids[7,8]. CRP, an acute phase protein, is an index of chronic, low level inflammation. Elevated production of pro-inflammatory mediators has been noted in adipose tissue as well as circulating mononuclear cells in obese individuals[9]. It has been suggested that these inflammatory factors may activate endothelial cells, stimulating further release of cytokines and growth factors associated with the migration of lymphocytes and macrophages into smooth muscle cells in vessel walls. Obesity is associated with higher concentrations of serum CRP[8,10], suggesting one mechanism linking obesity to…

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