Low carb vs low fat – it’s a draw

New research adds to the body of evidence that neither cutting carbs nor cutting fat from your diet is superior when it comes to weight loss.

The Stanford University study of 609 people put two groups on a diet – one low carb, the other low fat. After 12 months, there was little difference in the amount of weight lost between the two groups, researchers say.

Baseline insulin levels and genetics also didn’t appear to make a difference to weight loss on either of the diets.

The researchers tested the theory that some genotypes make a person more likely to lose weight if they eat fewer carbohydrates, but the research failed to find evidence of this.

According to lead author Christopher Gardener, the biggest takeaway from the study is that the best results, in term of weight loss, came from eating less sugar and fewer processed foods while increasing vegetable and wholefood intake.

“On both sides, we heard from people who had lost the most weight, that we had helped them change their relationship to food, and now they were more thoughtful about how they ate,” Professor Gardener says in a press release.

JAMA, February 2018