Is it true that a low-fat diet is most effective for weight loss?

There is a common belief that if you want to lose weight, you need to eat less fatty foods. We decided to check if this is true.

You can find many on the Internet diets low fat, which promise fast and effective weight loss. They write that reducing the amount of fat you eat helps you lose weight, and the media (for example, RBC And "Arguments and Facts"), and also sitesdedicated to dietetics. Bloggers also call for giving up fat "Zene".

First of all, you need to decide what fatty foods are. This often means, for example, French fries or cakes, which, in addition to fats, also contain a large amount of carbohydrates. We will talk about fats as an organic substance that is part of many food products. They share into several types: saturated (found in meat, dairy products, palm and coconut oils), polyunsaturated (in walnuts, salmon, corn oil), monounsaturated (in other nuts, avocados, olive oil) and trans fats (in deodorized vegetable oils and prepared foods where they are added artificially).

Most supporters of a healthy lifestyle and those who want to lose weight are conditionally shares into two camps - fans of a low-fat diet and a low-carbohydrate diet. Those who have not deeply studied this topic can logically assume that if you want to get rid of fat on your sides, this is what you need to reduce in your diet. However, it doesn't quite work that way.

A low-fat diet is closely related to calorie counting. 1 g fat contains contains 9 kcal, while 1 g of carbohydrates or proteins is only 4 kcal. Thus, with the same amount of food eaten, fats provide more than twice as many kilocalories, and this is precisely the point, and not that the fats we supposedly eat are immediately deposited on our sides and waist. 

Some research showedthat a low-fat diet is more effective than a low-carb diet: subjects who were on it lost almost twice as much weight as the second group. However, this experiment was carried out in a laboratory where the diet of the participants was controlled by nutritionists, which does not happen in ordinary life. In addition, the study lasted only six days, so its findings are difficult to consider representative.

Studies conducted outside the laboratory showed completely different results. The team examined and compiled 53 such studies in this area, involving a total of more than 68,000 people. They came to conclusionthat the low-fat diet shows significant weight loss only in comparison with the subjects' usual diet, but loses in comparison with low-carbohydrate and some other diets. 

Study, conducted by American scientists on 132 people with severe obesity, also did not demonstrate significant effectiveness of a low-fat diet: the group that reduced the amount of carbohydrates lost an average of 5.8 kg over six months, while the group that gave up fat lost only 1.9 kg. It is worth noting that the health indicators of the subjects improved more significantly after a low-carbohydrate diet.

Separately researched the impact of a particular diet on overweight adolescents. They were not restricted in the number of calories they consumed, but had to cut back on either fat or carbohydrates. The group that gave up carbohydrates lost an average of almost 10 kg, while the other group only lost 4 kg. Study, conducted exclusively on overweight women, also showed greater effectiveness of a low-carbohydrate diet compared to a low-fat diet: 8.5 kilograms lost by participants versus 3.9.

Experts from the US National Cholesterol Education Program also studied the effectiveness of these two diets and also came to the conclusion conclusionthat a low-carb diet allows you to lose weight faster. As in previous studies, the difference in kilograms lost was almost twofold. At the same time, the ratio of waist and hips (this is an important indicator when diagnosing obesity) changed completely only with a low-carbohydrate diet.

British researchers during the experiment noticedthat the low-carb diet was significantly more effective even when those on it consumed more calories than the low-fat group. To the same conclusions came the American Dietetic Association, which conducted a similar study on women who had not reached menopause. In addition, with a low-carbohydrate diet, the subjects' feeling of hunger decreased significantly.

TO conclusions Many others have come forward regarding the benefits of a low-carb diet. researchers: people who took participation V experiments, lost one and a half or more times more weight by reducing their carbohydrate intake than those who gave up fat. Although it is worth noting that in some experiments reducing fats and carbohydrates in the diet gave approximately the same result. 

Refusal of fats loses and the Mediterranean diet (its peculiarity - in the consumption of large amounts of fruits, vegetables and whole grains), scientists from New England found. In addition, low-fat foods are often turn out to be even more harmful because they contain added flavoring agents, thickeners and sugar, which can also contribute to weight gain and other negative effects on human health. 

Thus, most of the studies we found do not confirm the high effectiveness of avoiding “fatty” foods when losing weight. According to many scientists and nutritionists, a low-carb diet has a significantly greater effect (in many cases, those who were on it managed to lose twice as many kilograms). Although in some studies the difference was at the level of statistical error. It is worth noting that in any case, the diet must be selected with a doctor, taking into account the state of health and characteristics of the body.

Most likely not true

What do our verdicts mean?

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