Weight loss diets - which ones are the most successful?

This is the sixty four dollar question for many of us! One of my favourite programs, ABC Radio National's Health Report, this week featured an interview with the author of a new study in Israel comparing the effectiveness of three diets: low fat, low carb and a Mediterranean diet which concentrated on olive oil, nuts and fish. The randomised trial looked at moderately obese 51 year olds over two years and the main discovery was that the low carb diet and the Mediterranean diet were much more efficient in weight loss than the low fat diet, although all the diets worked. They also found an improved lipid profile in those people on the low carb diet.

You can read the interview transcript on the Health Report website, and contact the library for a copy of the research paper: Shai I et al. "Weight Loss with a Low-Carbohydrate, Mediterranean, or Low-Fat Diet." New England Journal of Medicine, July 17, 2008. 359(3) :229-241.