|
Some nutritionists advocate low fat diets to help you lose weight over the long term, but studies show they are no better than other dietary ways of controlling caloric intake. Some diet advisors tell people who are overweight not to worry about calories but just go on a low fat diet. Sounds good, since fat is intense in calories and bad for your heart. (The goal by the way, is is long-term weight loss and so far no-one's got that right - apart, that is, from people doing an enormous amount of daily exercise.) But a review of available evidence on low fat diet advice suggests it doesn't work better than calorie control. The studies looked at overweight or obese men and women who wanted to lose weight who were in trials comparing low fat diets with other weight-loss eating advice. And there was no statistical difference - although all the way through, calorie control seemed to do better, even at 18 months out. Just to illustrate the performance of both, though, over the longer term, the average weight loss at six months was about 5 kg , and about 2 - 2.5 kg at 12 months and 18 months. Interestingly, there were no differences in cholesterol levels or other heart risk factors between the groups. So low fat diets aren't useless but you're probably better off with a balanced approach.
|
