Diet Type Doesn't Matter for Weight Loss, Study Suggests
(HealthDay News) — For overweight and obese adults, significant weight loss is achieved with any low-carbohydrate or low-fat diet, with minimal between-diet differences, according to a review published in the September 3 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Bradley C. Johnson, PhD, from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, and colleagues conducted a systematic review to examine weight loss outcomes for popular diets based on diet class and named diet. Data were included from 48 unique randomized trials, including 7,286 overweight or obese adults, which compared popular self-administered named diet vs. no diet.
The researchers found that the largest weight loss was associated with low-carbohydrate diets (8.73kg at six-month follow-up; 7.25kg at 12-month follow-up) and low-fat diets (7.99kg at six-month follow-up; 7.27kg at 12-month follow-up) compared with no diet. Minimal differences were seen in weight loss between individual diets; for example, at six months, the Atkins diet resulted in 1.71kg greater weight loss than the Zone diet. The influence of behavioral support and exercise on weight loss differed between six- and 12-month follow-up.
"Significant weight loss was observed with any low-carbohydrate or low fat diet. Weight loss differences between individual named diets were small," the authors write. "This supports the practice of recommending any diet that a patient will adhere to in order to lose weight."