Can an Alternate-Day High Fat Diet Turn You into a Fat Burning Machine (Boost Your Muscles' Oxidative Capacity)?

If you take a look at the contemporary "low carb"-hype, one of the often-heard arguments in favor of high(er) fat and low carbohydrate intakes is the notion that this would increase your cells' ability to bur fat... or, as some people phrase it: "A high fat diet will turn you into a fat burning machine!"

Believe it or not, this is not totally wrong. What is wrong, though, is that the increase in mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation capacity, which is an adaptive response to the lack of other energy sources, will translate into direct fat loss. Eventually, you will still only lose weight and body fat if you are in a caloric deficit: high carb, low carb or no carb - personal preferences and parameters may determine which one works best for you, but eventually both work.

But I am getting off an a tangent. The actual question in today's SuppVersity article is after all not, whether a high fat diet allows for easier, faster or more reliable fat loss than a balanced or high carb diet. No, the question for today's SuppVersity article is: "Can an Alternate Day High Fat Diet Provide Turn You into a Fat Burning Machine?"

A hilarious idea, right? Well, I would probably have said the same before I had read a recent study from the Waseda University in Japan (Li. 2016). In said study, Li et al. tried to elucidate whether they would be able to get the same improvements in mitochondrial enzyme activity and protein content others have observed in rodents on high fat diets without the concomitant long-term intra-abdominal fat accumulation, and ever-increasing insulin resistance, and obesity.  Read more on Suppversity.Blogspot.com.