A meta analysis of data collected from 48 separate trials has found evidence that says it doesn’t matter what diet you decide to use, as long as you stick to it.
A Canadian team of researchers published a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association that found adherence to a diet is far more important than what that diet actually consists of.
Data from 7,286 overweight people was used, following them as they embarked on a diet, tracking their weight loss.
They used information from people following a wide range of popular diets, including the Atkins diet, in order to get a broad range of data. After 12 months, people following both low fat and low carb diets both lost an average of 7.3kg (16lb). However, those on the low carb diets had lost slightly more weight halfway through the study, with the low fat dieters catching up in the second six months.
Judging by these findings from the McMaster University in Ontario and the hospital for Sick Children Research Institute in Toronto, it makes no difference which diet plan you follow because, given time and adherence, they will all help you to lose weight. They suggested taking on a diet that would be the easiest to adhere to.
However, the study did not take into account wider health benefits, focusing solely on the weight loss aspect of each diet. For example, cholesterol can be affected by diet in an unhealthy or healthy way, but this study did not look at that as a factor.
So choose your diet carefully, make sure it will keep you healthy while losing weight, and make sure that you stick to it!
© Diet.co.uk 2025. All rights reserved.