A low carb diet leads to effective weight loss

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

A comparison of four popular diets shows that low carb seems to give the best results.
There has been a great deal of interest in low carb diets in recent years - and some criticism because of possible side effects. In a new study, doctors at Stanford University Medical School compared four different diets to see how the low carb approach fares The diets were Atkins (very low in carbohydrate), Zone (low carb), LEARN (low fat) and Ornish (high carb). The participants were 311 obese women, who followed one of the four diets for 12 months.

Average weight loss on Atkins, after 12 months, was 10.4 pounds, compared with 3.5 pounds for Zone, 5.7 pounds for LEARN and 4.8 pounds for Ornish. Blood pressure and lipid profiles were similar for Atkins to the other diets - therefore it does not have a bad effect on metabolism. The findings show that you can expect to lose weight on a very low carb diet, without harming your health. However, the weight losses on all these diets were relatively small. Doctors advising patients on weight loss should suggest they make permanent adjustments to energy intake and energy expenditure, regardless of the macronutrient content of the diet plan.

Source
Journal of the American Medical Association 7th March 2007 Volume 297 pages 969-977

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