Published in the New England Journal of Medicine, it is a large (811 participants) prospective and randomised trial, hitting most of the hot buttons for quality and reliability in medical research. Overweight adults were assigned to one of four diets, equal in energy content but differing in proportions of macronutrients, which they were to follow for two years. All were offered an exercise program and counselling in addition.
Eighty per cent of people stuck with the program, and they lost an average four kilos regardless of which diet they followed.
At the Boston Globe, Elizabeth Cooney does a nice job of describing the methodology of the Harvard School of Public Health study that gave rise to the flurry of reporting. But she does not go far beyond the confines of the research itself to seek comment, including only a press release statement from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, which funded the study.
Time’s Tiffany Sharples has scored a lively interview with co-author Catherine Loria and lead author Frank Sacks, who told her such gems as: “We have a really simple and practical message for people: it’s not so much the type of diet you eat. It’s how much you put in your mouth.”
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