Dieters have lots of good options: study

By Gene Emery

BOSTON (Reuters) - Advocates for various diets may argue that theirs is the best and healthiest way to lose weight but a study published on Wednesday suggests that many of them are effective.

The findings show that would-be dieters should choose the weight-loss program that they are most comfortable with, as long as it is high in fiber and low in calories and saturated fat.

"You can't go wrong," Dr. Frank Sacks of the Harvard School of Public Health, whose study appears in the New England Journal of Medicine, said in a telephone interview. "Our bottom line is, choose a diet that is good for your heart and there's a big range of what you can eat. Then just be reasonable about your intake. If you need to lose weight, eat less."

More than 800 U.S. volunteers, who were either overweight or obese, were put on one of four diets.

Two were low fat, two were high fat. Two were high protein and two had average protein levels. Carbohydrate levels ranged from 35 percent to 65 percent of the diet. All participants were asked to engage in 90 minutes of moderate exercise per week and all had diet counseling.

The volunteers were followed for two years, much longer than most diet studies.

The average weight loss was 9 pounds (4 kg) and people typically took 2 inches off their waistline, regardless of which diet they were on.

"There's no special diet that's better for weight loss than any other," Sacks said. "As long as it's healthy for you -- high in unsaturated fats, high in whole grains and fiber, low in junk foods and high carb-junk foods, and low in fatty meats -- any of these variations will be fine for losing weight."