Last week's Journal of the American Medical Association
(JAMA) published some findings about the effects of
long-term weight loss with a low fat diet. The study was done in the context of the popularity of low-carb diet
regimens (Atkins, South Beach), which are not necessarily low in fat. Supporters of the low-carb diets have suggested
that it is low-fat, high-carb diets that have contributed to the US's obesity problem. The JAMA's conclusion? From the
abstract, "A low-fat eating pattern does not result in weight gain."
No. Effin'. Way.
I am not poking fun at the JAMA, because, like, they're doctors and stuff. However, I am poking fun at everyone who 1) finds this information the least bit surprising, and 2) will twist the information and use it as license to reach for a dozen doughnuts with utter abandon.
No, no o ye of little restraint.
The study, though done over an impressive seven years and on 48,000 women, was done primarily on postmenopausal women (that's 50 to 79 years old), and the original objective was to examine the effect of a low-fat diet on other health problems (colorectal and breast cancers), not the effect on weight loss. And the actual findings are that eating less fat and more carbohydrates like fruit, vegetable and whoe grains does not necessarily make one gain weight. The women who had the lowfat diets lost an average of just under 5 pounds in the first year of the study, but it seems that afterseven years, the weight loss was less. The point is, their low fat diets didn't make then gain weight.
Good to know that my bowl of oatmeal isn't making me fat.
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