A Comparison of the Weight Loss Effect between a Low-carbohydrate Diet and a Calorie-restricted Diet in Combination with Intragastric Balloon Therapy

Objective Intragastric balloon (IGB) therapy is a low-invasion treatment for obesity. Recently, a low-carbohydrate diet has shown effectiveness for encouraging weight loss, but whether or not a low-carbohydrate diet improves the efficacy of IGB therapy remains unclear. Therefore, we examined the effectiveness of a low-carbohydrate diet compared with a calorie-restricted diet in combination with IGB therapy. Methods A prospective study was conducted on 51 patients who had undergone IGB therapy from October 2012 to December 2017. Overall, 31 of the 51 patients were included in this study (12-month assessment after IGB placement). These 31 cases consisted of 18 IGB plus low-carbohydrate diet and 13 IGB plus calorie-restricted diet. We compared the two groups with respect to body weight loss as outcomes. Results At 12 months after IGB placement, the body weight was significantly lower than that observed at baseline in both the IGB plus low-carbohydrate diet group (baseline 101.9 +/- 25.8 kg, 12 months 88.2 +/- 21.9 kg) (p<0.0001) and the IGB plus calorie-restricted diet group (baseline 103.5 +/- 17.0 kg, 12 months 89.1 +/- 6.2 kg) (p<0.005). The percentage of excess weight loss in the IGB plus low-carbohydrate diet group was slightly higher than that in the IGB plus calorie-restricted diet group, but there was no significant difference between the 2 groups at 12 months after IGB placement (IGB plus low-carbohydrate 49.9 +/- 60.0%, IGB plus calorie-restricted diet 33.1 +/- 27.0%). Conclusion Our study demonstrated that both a low-carbohydrate diet and a calorie-restricted diet were effective interventions for weight reduction in combination with IGB therapy.