If you have been eating a low fat diet to reduce your weight, we have some bad news for you. A recent study conducted by researchers at Harvard has found that a low fat diet was no more beneficial to long term weight loss than many of the other diet plans on the market today. While a low fat diet has long been promoted as a superior way to lose weight and keep it off, the study appears to show that limiting the fat in your diet has negligible benefits.
The new analysis, published online in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology journal, looked 53 published studies involving more than 68,000 adults on low fat, low carbohydrate, or unrestricted diets. The low fat diets in the studies ranged from very low fat, which allowed 10 percent or less of calories from fat, to more moderate plans, which allowed 30 percent or less of calories from fat. After a follow-up after at least one year, those on a low carbohydrate diet were slightly more than 2 pounds lighter than those on a low fat diet. The average weight loss across all groups was 6 pounds.
However, it is important to note that the new analysis had some limitations that may have skewed the results. Many of the studies included in the analysis had significant numbers of subjects drop out during the period, making it difficult to know if the diet itself made adhering to it challenging.
Study leader Deirdre Tobias, an associate epidemiologist at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, says that the key to successful long term weight loss seems to have more to do with adherence than a specific weight loss plan. Achieving weight loss is more likely a matter of calorie control than of fat control. If the person can consistently control the amount of calories they consume, they appear to have a greater chance of losing the weight and keeping the weight off long term. The research is supported by the American Diabetes Association and the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
While there are a variety of weight loss plans available, there doesn’t appear to be one that could be deemed the optimal diet for weight loss. Anyone who wants to lose weight and keep it off should look for a weight loss program that fits both their preferences and their cultural needs. Drastic changes in diet are difficult to maintain long term and long term maintaining is what’s required for successful weight loss. Increasing physical activity is also cited as a factor for a successful weight loss plan.