A recent study by the Harvard School of Public Health showed that it did not matter what type of diet but rather the amount that you eat that determines your weight loss. The study used 800 volunteers who were put on four different diets which varied in the amount of fat, protein and carbohydrates. After two years the average weight loss per person for each of the diets was 9 pounds.
(Did You Know? Regular physical exercise reduces the risk of early death, heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, colon and breast cancer, and depression.)
There are two results to be taken from this study. The first is that obviously it is not the diet as much as it is sticking to healthy eating, reducing amounts, and exercising (they did 90 minutes per week) that results in weight loss. Less intuitive is that the modest weight loss may not be the answer to general obesity in this country. A community based program in France that improved eating habits in school led to 8.8 percent of the children being overweight compared to 17.8 in neighboring towns.