A two year study was done in Israel to compare 3 types of diet, low fat, mediterranean and low carb.
The results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine, in the 17 July 2008 issue.
It is an interesting read if you are into big words, lots of data and obvious disclaimers. As I am a bit of a geek I do like those first two so I enjoyed reading the article. To save you the trouble though I will highlight what I consider to be the main conclusions.
Aside from showing us that woman are better ‘losers’ than men (sorry guys), it also showed that woman lose more weight on a different weight loss plan than men.
Looking at the results after two years the ’skinny’ (bad pun intended) is on average:
“The mean weight loss was 2.9 kg for the low-fat group, 4.4 kg for the Mediterranean-diet group, and 4.7 kg for the low-carbohydrate group”
As was to be expected not everybody saw the diet through for the entire period (2 years). But even with those numbers included people lost over 50% more weight on the Mediterranean diet and dieters lost over 60% more on the Low Carb diet.
“among the 272 participants who completed the intervention, the mean weight losses were 3.3 kg, 4.6 kg, and 5.5 kg, respectively.”
The people who did stick to the diet for 2 years lost more weight on average. Again the people on the Mediterranean diet and Low Carb diet lost more weight. However, the differences become even more impressive now. People on the Mediterranean diet now lost over 60% more and people on the Low Carb diet lost over 65% more weight than people on the Low Fat diet.
“The relative reduction in the ratio of total cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol was 20% in the low-carbohydrate group and 12% in the low-fat group”
This is probably the shocker for most ‘traditional’ dieters and another confirmation for the Low Carbers. One of the main arguments that we often hear against Low Carb dieting is that it can not be good for you cholesterol. However, this study shows once again that Low Carb is better for your cholesterol levels as indicated by the drop of total cholesterol against HDL (good cholesterol).
This all comes from the summary of the report.
When we dig deeper we find the numbers for both men and women separately.
“Among the 277 male participants, the mean 24-month weight changes were –3.4 kg (95% confidence interval [CI], –4.3 to –2.5) for the low-fat group, –4.0 kg (95% CI, –5.1 to –3.0) for the Mediterranean-diet group, and –4.9 kg (95% CI, –6.2 to –3.6) for the low-carbohydrate group.”
Men lost on average 3.4kg on the Low Fat diet, 4kg on the Mediterranean diet and 4.9kg on the low carb diet. So the Mediterranean diet beat Low Fat by 17% while for men the diet beat Low Fat by 44%.
“Among the 45 women, the mean 24-month weight changes were –0.1 kg (95% CI, –2.2 to 1.9) for the low-fat group, –6.2 kg (95% CI, –10.2 to –1.9) for the Mediterranean-diet group, and –2.4 kg (95% CI, –6.9 to 2.2) for the low-carbohydrate group”
Women on average lost 0.1kg on the Low Fat diet (is that even worth it?). 2.4kg on the Low Carb diet (yes, I’ve switched the order here) and 6.2kg on the Mediterranean diet! Women lost almost 3 times as much on the Mediterranean diet compared to the Low Carb diet and even more compared to the Low Fat diet.
Briefly highlighted:
Men
Women
So it looks like the women profit a lot more from a Mediterranean diet. The Mediterranean diet also seems to work well for men however, the Low Carb diet seems to work even better for them.
If you have any questions then, as always, I am more than happy to help you if I can.
If are looking for a weight loss plan tailored to your own needs visit eDiets.com. They have been around for ages and are generally considered the best online service for weight loss.
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