Diets that count calories work just as well as Atkins, shows research

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Foods high in carbohydrates Photo: GETTY


Doctors found that diets where the amount of starchy carbohydrates, such as potatoes and pasta, were restricted worked no better than diets with no carb restrictions.
A team from Harvard School of Public Health randomly assigned 811 overweight adults to one of four diets that contained different amounts of fat, protein and carbohydrate for two years.
Each slimmer was given a set amount of calories per day, ranging from 1,200 to 2,400, calculated on an individual basis according to how much weight they needed to lose.
After six months, people on each diet had lost an average of six kilos – around seven per cent of their body weight – which they slowly began to regain over the following 12 months.
After two years the weight loss of those on the 15 per cent protein diet, 25 per cent protein diet, and 20 per cent fat diet had all lost a similar amount, an average of three kilos.
People on the 65 per cent carbohydrate diet lost an average of 2.9 kilos and those on the 35 per cent carbohydrate diet lot 3.4 kilos.
The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine and lead author Dr Frank Sacks, wrote in the paper: "We did not confirm the previous findings that low-carbohydrate or high-protein diets caused increased weight loss at six months.
"Reduced-calorie diets result in clinically meaningful weight loss regardless of which macronutrients they emphasise."
At the end of the programme between 14 per cent and 15 per cent of people had lost at least 10 per cent of their body weight in each of the diet groups