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

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

On the Internet you can find a lot diets with low fat content, which They promise Fast and effective weight loss. They write that a reduction in the amount of fat used helps to lose weight, and the media (for example, RBC And "Arguments and Facts"), as well sitesdedicated to dietetics. Urge to abandon the fat and bloggers on "Zen".

First of all, you need to decide what fatty food is. Often, this means, for example, Free potatoes or cakeswho, in addition to fats, also contain a large amount of carbohydrates. We will talk about fats as an organic matter that is part of many foods. They divided For several types: saturated (eat in meat, dairy products, palm and coconut oils), polyunsaturated (in walnuts, salmon, corn oil), monoenaturated (in other nuts, avocados, olive oil) and transfiners (in deodorized vegetable oils and finished products where they are added artificially).

Most of the supporters of a healthy lifestyle and those who want to lose weight, conditionally shares For two camps - fans of a low -fat diet and low -carb. Those who have not studied this topic deeply can logically assume that if you want to get rid of fat on their sides, it is precisely it that needs to be reduced in the diet. However, this does not work quite like that.

A low -fat diet is closely related to the calculation of calories. 1 g of fat Contains 9 kcal, while 1 g of carbohydrates or proteins are only 4 kcal. Thus, with the same amount of food eaten, fats give more than twice as many kilocalories, and that’s the point, and not that the fats allegedly eaten are immediately deposited on our sides and waist. 

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

Studies conducted outside the laboratory showed completely different results. A group of scientists studied and summarized 53 such studies in this area, where more than 68,000 people took part in total. They came to conclusionthat a low -fat diet shows a significant weight loss only compared to the usual diet of subjects, but loses compared to low -carb and some other diets. 

Study, carried out by American scientists on 132 people with severe obesity, also did not demonstrate significant efficiency of a low -fat diet: a group that reduced the amount of carbohydrates in six months dropped an average of 5.8 kg, while a group that abandoned fats, only 1.9 kg. It is worth noting that the health indicators of subjects after a low -carbon diet have improved more significantly.

Separately investigated The influence of a particular diet on adolescents with overweight. They were not limited in the number of calories consumed, but they were supposed to reduce either fats or carbohydrates. The group, which refused carbohydrates, dropped an average of almost 10 kg, and the other only 4 kg. Study, carried out exclusively on women with an excess body weight, also showed the greater efficiency of a low -carbon diet compared to a low -air: 8.5 kilograms lost to 3.9 kilograms.

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

British researchers during the experiment Noticedthat the low -carb diet showed significantly greater effectiveness even when those participants who sat on it consumed more calories than a low -fat group. To the same conclusions The American Association of nutritionists came, which conducted a similar study on women who did not reach menopause. In addition, with a low -carbon diet, the feeling of the hunger of the subjects decreased significantly.

TO conclusions For the advantages of a low -carb diet, many others came Researchers: people who accept participation V experiments, dropped one and a half or more times more weight, reducing carbohydrate consumption than those who refused fats. Although it is worth noting that in some experiments decrease in fats and carbohydrates in the diet gave About the same result. 

Refusal of fat loses and the Mediterranean diet (her peculiarity - In the consumption of a large number of fruits, vegetables and whole grains), scientists from New England found out. In addition, often low -fat products It turns out Even more harmful, since they add flavors, thickeners and sugar, which can also contribute to weight gain and have other negative effects on human health. 

Thus, most of the studies we have found do not confirm the high efficiency of abandoning “fat” products when losing weight. According to many scientists and dietitian doctors, the low-carb diet has a significantly greater effect (in many cases, those who were sitting on it managed to drop 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, a 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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