Low-Fat Diet on Par with Low-Carbohydrate Diet for Weight Loss

A randomized clinical trial in the US showed that there was no significant difference in weight change between a healthy low-fat diet (HLF) vs a healthy low-carbohydrate diet (HLC), and neither genotype pattern nor baseline insulin secretion was associated with the dietary effects on weight loss. A total of 609 adults aged 18 to 50 years without diabetes with a body mass index between 28 and 40 were enrolled from January 29, 2013, through April 14, 2015, and randomized to the 12-month HLF or HLC diet. Health educators led sessions focused on ways to achieve the lowest fat or carbohydrate intake that could be maintained long-term and emphasized diet quality. While testing 3 single-nucleotide polymorphism multilocus genotype responsiveness patterns, 244 [40%] had a low-fat genotype; 180 [30%] had a low-carbohydrate genotype; 481 (79%) completed the trial. In the HLF vs HLC diets, respectively, the mean 12-month macronutrient distributions were 48% vs 30% for carbohydrates, 29% vs 45% for fat, and 21% vs 23% for protein. Weight change at 12 months was −5.3 kg for the HLF diet vs −6.0 kg for the HLC diet. There was no significant diet-genotype pattern interaction or diet-insulin secretion interaction with 12-month weight loss. There were 18 adverse events or serious adverse events evenly distributed across the 2 diet groups. Source: https://jamanetwork.com/