People who ate a low-carbohydrate diet without any calories restrictions for two years lost an average of 12.1 lbs compared to 10.1 pounds for those eating a calorie-restricted Mediterranean-diet and 7.3 pounds for those who followed a calorie-restricted low-fat diet according to a study conducted by researchers from Ben-Gurion University in Beer-Sheva, Israel, the Institute of Laboratory Medicine at the University Hospital Leipzig in Leipzig, Germany and from the Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Among the 45 women who completed the two-year study comparing a low-carbohydrate diet to a Mediterranean diet to a low-fat diet, women following a Mediterranean diet lost an average of 13.6 pounds versus 5.3 pounds for those on the low-carbohydrate diet and only 0.2 pounds for those assigned to the low-fat diet.

Among the 277 men in the two-year study comparing a low-carbohydrate diet to a Mediterranean diet to a low-fat diet, men following a low-carbohydrate diet lost an average of 10.8 pounds versus 8.8 pounds for those following the Mediterranean diet versus 7.5 pounds for those assigned to the low-fat diet.

A Mediterranean diet is better for reducing blood sugar levels in diabetics than a low-carbohydrate or low-fat diet according to a two-year study comparing a low-carbohydrate diet to a Mediterranean diet to a low-fat diet.


Among the 36 diabetics who completed the study, those following a Mediterranean diet had the greatest reduction in blood sugar levels (-33 mg per deciliter) versus an increase of +1 mg per deciliter for those in the low-carbohydrate group and an increase of +12 mg per deciliter in the low-fat group.

Comment: The lack of reduction in blood sugar in the low-carbohydrate group after two years is probably because they were not restricting carbohydrates as much as they did during the first year. At the end of the first year, blood sugar levels in the low-carbohydrate group had fallen by -18 mg per deciliter versus -23 mg per deciliter for the Mediterranean diet group.

“It is possible to achieve and maintain long-term weight loss using a low-carbohydrate diet,” concludes a paper from researchers at Brown Medical School in Providence, Rhode Island, USA.

People assigned to follow a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet containing about 30 percent fewer calories than normal lost slightly more weight than people assigned to follow a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet according to a study from Australia.

People lost as much weight with a high-fat diet as a low-fat, high-protein diet according to a study from the University of Adelaide in Adelaide, Australia.

It is easier to maintain weight loss by eating a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet than by trying to follow a fixed low-calorie diet according to a recent study.

A low fat, high fiber diet can cause spontaneous weight loss according to a recent study.

People eating a low-calorie, low-fat diet that contained sugar, to make it more palatable, lost an average of 5.2 percent of their bodyweight in three months according to a new study from England.

Greater weight loss is associated with people reducing the variety of fats, oils, sweets and high-fat foods, and increasing the variety of low-fat breads according to a study from Brown University.

ALTHOUGH A LOW-CALORIE DIET IS BEST for losing weight, a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet is better for maintaining that weight loss according to a one study (Toubro et al, 1997). (Note that this study did not include comparison to a low-carbohydrate diet.)

A REDUCED CALORIE DIET, whether high in fat or high in carbohydrates, causes a similar amount of weight loss according to a 1996 study.

Here is the American Dietetic Assoication’s position on weight management as of 2002.

Reducing dietary fat intake from forty-five percent of calories to twenty-five percent causes an average weight loss of 11 pounds in someone weighing approximately 210 pounds.

A REDUCED FAT DIET appears to be more than twice as effective for weight loss as moderate aerobic exercise, at least in males.

A LOW-FAT DIET PLUS AEROBIC EXERCISE may be the best way for overweight men to create a calorie deficit suggests a recent study.