Low-fat diets ineffective in achieving long-term weight loss, scientists say

However, a new study at Harvard University has come up with the evidence that a low-carb diet and not a low-fat diet is what is more effective for weight loss!

Tom Sanders, another nutrition expert from King's College London, said: "It is not surprising that the diets focusing on restricting carbohydrate intake led to slightly greater weight loss, as carbo-hydrate typically supplies 45-50 per cent of the energy intake". Tobias is the lead author of the study, which was published this week in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology journal.

The lead researcher also highlighted that their study, which can be considered as one of the biggest of its kind, showed that there is not enough evidence that will prove that low-fat diet is the most effective way for weight loss.

Dr Deirdre Tobais from Harvard Medical School in Boston, US and her colleagues did a systematic review and meta-analysis of all randomised trials comparing the effectiveness of low-fat diets to other diets - including no diet - to see which resulted in long-term weight loss in adults.

Long term weight loss is viewed to keeping the weight off for at least 1 year. The researchers discovered that low-fat diets were no better than other types of diet when it comes to long-term weight loss. The advantages of low-fat diets have always been in the limelight.

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The researchers' conclusion to focus on dietary patterns jives with the recent report by the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, which for the first time suggested a range of types of diets for optimal health (and reduced environmental impact), rather than any one single diet.

Although the committee's report in a few ways also marked an exoneration for fat, it still recommended limiting saturated fat to 10% of daily calories and opting for low-fat and no-fat dairy options.

Researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH) conducted a comprehensive review of the data generated from 53 randomized clinical trials involving 68,128 participants in which they compared the long term effect of low-fat and higher-fat dietary interventions and analyzed for any difference in weight change.

But research through the years has yielded contradictory results.

Although the findings are frustrating, not all hope is lost, Hall said. "In fact, we did not find evidence that is particularly supportive of any specific proportion of calories from fat for meaningful long-term weight loss". He is doing research to address this question.