Low-fat versus low-carbohydrate diets, weight loss, vascular health, and prevention of coronary artery disease: the evidence, the reality, the challenge, and the hope.

In the pages of this issue of Nutrition in Clinical Practice, Mueller and coworkers report on a pilot study of the effects of carbohydratevs fat-controlled diets upon weight loss and factors in coronary artery disease (CAD). Their article touches upon the 2 most important topics in public health today. Surveying the central role of overweight and obesity in driving the dual epidemics of diabetes and CAD, reflecting about recent concepts, and reviewing data concerning low-carbohydrate diets (LCD) and low-fat diets (LFD) can help put their article in perspective.