What Diets WorkFrom the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat. There are low-protein diets, low-fat diets, and they all claim to work best. So what approach works best? They all do, according to a study that looked at what happened to dieters after a couple years. The researchers studied four varieties: - Low fat, average protein
- Low fat, high-protein
- High fat, average protein
- And high fat, high protein
Researcher Frank Sacks of the Harvard School of Public Health: [Frank Sacks speaks] "What surprised me, actually, is all the diets did the same. They were effective for weight loss. And there was no advantage over the long run – or even over the short run – in one diet over the other." All the dieters kept off about 9 pounds over two years. The study in the New England Journal of Medicine was supported by the National Institutes of Health. Learn more at hhs.gov. HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss. Last revised: March, 26 2009 |