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Scientists just tested low-carb diets against low-fat diets to see which worked best

Low-carb, or low-fat?
Low-carb, or low-fat?

Every year seems to bring a new fad diet – 5:2, paleo, Atkins – and it’s become really difficult to know which one’s best.

Should you cut carbs, or cut fat? Perhaps we shouldn’t be worried.

Christopher Gardner of Stanford analysed low-fat diets versus low-carb ones and found that both diets work, shaving off excess weight in about the same level.

Gardner got 609 participants between the ages of 18 and 50 to diet for a year – half doing low-carb and half doing low-fat.

He found that volunteers in both groups lost roughly the same amount on average – 13 pounds – but that the amount lost varied widely within each group.

Turns out low-carb and low-fat are both effective (Getty)
Turns out low-carb and low-fat are both effective (Getty)

Gardner said, ‘We’ve all heard stories of a friend who went on one diet — it worked great — and then another friend tried the same diet, and it didn’t work at all.

‘It’s because we’re all very different, and we’re just starting to understand the reasons for this diversity. Maybe we shouldn’t be asking what’s the best diet, but what’s the best diet for whom?’

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Crucially, Gardner says, both groups ate healthy, non-processed foods.

Gardner said, ‘We made sure to tell everybody, regardless of which diet they were on, to go to the farmer’s market, and don’t buy processed convenience food crap. Also, we advised them to diet in a way that didn’t make them feel hungry or deprived — otherwise it’s hard to maintain the diet in the long run.

‘We wanted them to choose a low-fat or low-carb diet plan that they could potentially follow forever, rather than a diet that they’d drop when the study ended.”

Gardner previously said that most successful big-name diets suggest avoiding added sugar and refined grains – and eating more vegetables.

Just doing those three things could help a lot of people with their diets, he said in a speech to the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Scientific Sessions annual meeting in 2016.

Gardner said that beyond that, the choice of diet may simply be finding one which allows users to restrict calories – but still feel full.

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