Low Carb vs. Low Fat: Which Popular Diet Works Best?

Mainstream low-fat and low-carb diets both resulted in significant weight loss, regardless of methodology, according to a new meta-analysis.

For the study, researchers evaluated data of approximately 7286 obese or overweight (body mass index (BMI) ≥25) participants in 48 randomized trials of popular self-administered diets, reporting weight or BMI at 6- and 12-month follow-ups.
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Data showed that low-carb diets (eg, Atkins) reported the greatest weight loss at 8.73 kg at 6-month and 7.25 kg at 12-month follow-ups versus no diet. Low-fat diets (eg, Ornish) reported a 7.99 kg loss at 6-months and 7.27 kg loss at 12-months. Notably, weight loss differences between individual diets were minimal.

Further, researchers found that moderate macronutrient diets (eg, Weight Watchers, Biggest Loser, Nutrisystem, Jenny Craig, and Volumetrics) yielded a weight loss between 6 kg and 7 kg after 6 months.

Researchers concluded that as long as a patient commits to a diet plan, significant weight loss could occur in any type of weight-loss program.

The complete study is published in the September issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.

-Michelle Canales

References:

Johnston BC, Kanters S, Bandayrel K, et al. Popular diets similar in terms of weight loss, meta-analysis finds. JAMA. 2014 September [epub ahead of print] doi: 10.1001/jama.2014.10837.

Van Horn L. A diet by any other name is still about energy. JAMA. 2014 September [epub ahead of print] doi: 10.1001/jama.2014.10397.