A 2019 article in Current Developments in Nutrition highlighted the effects of very-low-calorie diets on the cholesterol levels of three people. A 48-year-old man lost 55 pounds in five months after following a diet that limited him to 500 to 800 calories a day. Although his good HDL cholesterol levels increased and triglyceride levels decreased, something strange happened with his LDL (or “bad”) cholesterol. Before starting his diet, his LDL cholesterol was 148, and at one time it was as low as 52. However, it shot back up to 178. Eventually, his LDL stabilized to 72.

A 70-year-old woman saw something similar. She lost 41 pounds on the same diet, and her LDL increased by 49 points. Her cholesterol dropped 12 weeks later to 111, but this was 3 points higher than before she started her diet. Another woman who lost 79 pounds in eight months saw her LDL cholesterol rise by 43 points. Even though her cholesterol levels dropped again three months later, her LDL cholesterol was still 15 points higher than before her weight loss.