All diets work as long as you stick to them, say researchers

By Efrosini Costa

All diets work as long as you stick to them, say researchers
Any diet will do, say researchers, as long as you stick to it.

From Atkins to Zone, Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers, according to a recent study they all work as long as you can keep it up.

People should simply pick the one they find easiest and stick to it, say researchers.

Published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the research looked at data from 48 separate trials.

The Canadian research team found that, overall, sticking to a diet was more important than the diet itself.

This is because all diets cut calories to similar levels, resulting in weight loss.

While diet trends go in and out of fashion, with current debate about the benefits of low carb and low fat diets, seeing one through is key.

Researchers from Ontario and Toronto looked at data from more than 7,000 overweight dieters.

The range of diets examined included: Atkins, South Beach, Zone, Biggest Loser, Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, Volumetrics, Weight Watchers, Ornish and Rosemary Conley.

The data showed that after a 12 month period those on low carbohydrate and low fat diets both lots an average of 7.3 kg. The only difference being that those on low carb meal plans lost slightly more at the six-month mark.

“The differences [between diets] were small and unlikely to be important to those seeking weight loss,” the study’s authors wrote.

“Our findings should be reassuring to clinicians and the public that there is no need for a one-size-fits-­all approach to dieting because many different diets appear to offer considerable weight loss benefits,” they concluded.

“Our findings suggest that patients may choose, among those associated with the largest weight loss, the diet that gives them the least challenges with adherence.”

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