The Study
In this
well-designed trial, 322 overweight subjects were randomly assigned to either a
low fat diet, a low carb diet or a Mediterranean diet for 2 years. By the end
of follow-up, the low fat group had lost 6.4 lbs, the Mediterranean group had
lost 9.7 lbs. and the low carb group lost 10.3 lbs. There were some other
interesting results:
-The low carb diet
was the toughest to adhere to and had the highest drop-out rate.
-The Mediterranean
diet had a more beneficial impact on blood glucose and insulin levels in
diabetics than the low fat or low carb groups.
-Several risk
factors for heart disease improved more on the low carb and Mediterranean diets
than on the low fat diet, including reductions in c-reactive protein, triglycerides
and ratio of total to HDL cholesterol. The New England Journal of Medicine 2008;
359:229
Take Home Message
The research is
really starting to show that a low fat diet is not the path to greater weight
loss or improved health. This trial was extremely well designed and not only
was the low fat diet less effective for weight loss, it did not improve risk
factors for heart disease and diabetes as much as the other two
approaches.
It is important to
note that the subjects on the low carb diet were instructed to eat vegetable
sources of fat and protein. This was not your typical low carb diet where the
subjects were eating bacon, steaks and full fat dairy all day. In fact, when
you choose healthy sources of protein and fat, the low carb diet looks a lot
like a Mediterranean diet.
For me, the take
home messages of this study are:
#1) Healthy fat is
a good thing and does not need to be tightly restricted whether your goal is
improved health or weight loss.
#2) Too many
rapidly absorbed carbohydrates in your diet can make it harder to lose weight
and can have a negative impact on your health.
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