Obesity Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Obesity, including details on health, diet, prevention, exercise.

Randomized, multi-center trial of two hypo-energetic diets in obese subjects: high- versus low-fat content.

Petersen M, Taylor MA, Saris WH, Verdich C, Toubro S, Macdonald I, Rössner S, Stich V, Guy-Grand B, Langin D, Martinez JA, Pedersen O, Holst C, Sørensen TI, Astrup A

Institute of Human Nutrition, The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Copenhagen, Denmark.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether a hypo-energetic low-fat diet is superior to a hypo-energetic high-fat diet for the treatment of obesity. DESIGN: Open-label, 10-week dietary intervention comparing two hypo-energetic (-600 kcal/day) diets with a fat energy percent of 20-25 or 40-45.Subjects:Obese (BMI >or=30 kg/m(2)) adult subjects (n = 771), from eight European centers. MEASUREMENTS: Body weight loss, dropout rates, proportion of subjects who lost more than 10% of initial body weight, blood lipid profile, insulin and glucose. RESULTS: The dietary fat energy percent was 25% in the low-fat group and 40% in the high-fat group (mean difference: 16 (95% confidence interval (CI) 15-17)%). Average weight loss was 6.9 kg in the low-fat group and 6.6 kg in the high-fat group (mean difference: 0.3 (95% CI -0.2 to 0.8) kg). Dropout was 13.6% (n = 53) in the low-fat group and 18.3% (n = 70) in the high-fat group (P=0.001). Among completers, more subjects lost >10% in the low-fat group than in the high-fat group ((20.8%, n = 70) versus (14.7%, n = 46), P = 0.02). Fasting plasma total, low-density lipoprotein- and high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol decreased in both groups, but more so in the low-fat group than in the high-fat group. Fasting plasma insulin and glucose were lowered equally by both diets. CONCLUSIONS: The low-fat diet produced similar mean weight loss as the high-fat diet, but resulted in more subjects losing >10% of initial body weight and fewer dropouts. Both diets produced favorable changes in fasting blood lipids, insulin and glucose.

Published 27 February 2006 in Int J Obes (Lond), 30(3): 552-60.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2004-2008 Obesity Research Today. All Rights Reserved.