Talk:Low-fat diet

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Edits

The prior versions relied on secondary and not primary sources for studies about low-fat diets (i.e., newspapers versus journal articles). As this is frowned upon, I revised the article accordingly. (This was not signed, so I signed it myself) Jotakami (talk) 04:07, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Why does it not surprise me that citation is needed on this page? Oh, yeah, that's right, because most Americans wholeheartedly believe a nutritional dogma that science has never supported. Scientific studies don't support the hypothesis that fats are bad in the diet because they aren't. Jotakami (talk) 04:07, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

The link to the Cochrane-review is no longer valid, it says "This review has been withdrawn." Arvixx (talk) 15:54, 7 November 2009 (UTC)

The only external link on the page(Low-Fat VS Low-Carb Diets For Weight Loss: Results are in. Low-Fat Diets lose! - By Dr. Kathlen Zenman, MPH, RD, LD)is to a web page that is itself a link to an advertisment and as such has been removed by myself.Pupplesan (talk) 20:43, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

Someone has added the subheading "Plant Based Diets" that includes anecdote by several vegan physicians, as well as claims about animal fat, animal protein and vegan diets, which are not supported by the references. I have seen the same claims on several other pages, using the same references (which include a bunch of books, including a book by a layperson and a bunch of cherry picked papers that are way too weak to support the claims) This is not scientific, not objective and certainly doesn't belong here. Looks like someone put this here to promote the vegan message (See discussion here: http://authoritynutrition.com/wikipedia-tainted-with-vegan-propaganda/ ). I'm removing it Krassssi (talk) 10:20, 28 October 2013 (UTC)

There plenty of PubMed and Nature and Plos articles that show the value of low fat diets on weight and epigenetics. I have started adding in those studies on the page.  Lowfatvegan (talk) 00:35, 9 November 2017 (UTC)

Too short

I am astonished at how short this page is compared to Low-carbohydrate diet. Solo Owl 13:23, 27 July 2013 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Eall Ân Ûle (talk • contribs)

I agree. There is a lot that could be said about the history of the low-fat dietary recommendations. For example, the Ancel Keyes studies and the McGovern Commission, which first recommended the low-fat diet to the American public. I'll see if I can add something about it soon, pretty busy right now. Krassssi (talk) 10:24, 28 October 2013 (UTC)

Although it is an unpopular idea, some studies do suggest that a high carb, low fat diet is effective for weight loss. Therefore, I propose to add a heading that specifically discusses the HC-LF diet as a healthy diet that uses some of the research.--Kam4441 (talk) 02:40, 10 May 2018 (UTC)

Added External Links

I've added some links to reputable health promotion websites on the topic. This kind of information for the 'man on the street' seems to be missing on the rather technical and scientific wikipedia pages regarding Cholesterol. Lord Gorthol (talk) 13:43, 15 February 2015 (UTC)

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influence of carbohydrates section :

This study https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2673150 seems to contradict the last statement on the page here. I am not an ace referencer or fat-diet researcher but if someone who is either of those things would like to look into this, that's the link and here http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-diet-dna-20180220-story.html is a quicky summmary 116.231.75.71 (talk) 11:19, 21 February 2018 (UTC)

A summary quote from the Stanfard study, 600 fatso individuals :

Conclusions and Relevance: In this 12-month weight loss diet study, there was no significant difference in weight change between a healthy low-fat diet vs a healthy low-carbohydrate diet, and neither genotype pattern nor baseline insulin secretion was associated with the dietary effects on weight loss. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 116.231.75.71 (talk) 11:22, 21 February 2018 (UTC)

Edits on effects of low fat diets on men's testosterone

In regards to Whittaker's 2021 paper (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0960076021000716).

The standardized mean differences show very consistent effect sizes across markers of androgen status (-0.38; -0.37; -0.38; -0.30), and all are statistically significant, the majority highly so. This would typically be phrased as there is strong evidence of an effect (please see the Cochrane Handbook for interpretation - https://training.cochrane.org/handbook/current/chapter-15. Moreover, these effects of notable size (0.2 = small effect; 0.5 = medium effect; 0.8 = large effect).

Also, the included studies show very low heterogeneity, besides 1 outlining sample in the total testosterone meta-analysis, likely due to the ethnicity of that sample.

Tha authors state in their first highlight that 'Low-fat diets decrease testosterone levels in men', which intended to be the complete summary of the research. They do state that further randomized controlled trials are needed, but likely in an effort to direct future research, as their results are very strong.

The words 'limited evidence' do not accurately reflect the content of this review. I suggest omitting the word 'limited', to rephrase the sentence to 'There is evidence that low-fat diets compared to high-fat diets...'

In response to Alexbrn, a direct quote from the article:

'To summarise, our findings indicate that endogenous T production decreased on LF diets, leading to lower FT and TT.' — Preceding unsigned comment added by Nutritionandhealtheditor (talk • contribs) 17:25, 29 March 2021 (UTC)

Great, so you can cherry pick. This POV-pushing is just so tiresome. Alexbrn (talk) 17:53, 29 March 2021 (UTC)

David Ludwig, professor of nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

• Have low-fat diets made us fatter? 2015. Harvard Chan School news. Discussing David Ludwig, professor of nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
• Will The 'Always Hungry' Diet Revolutionize Weight Loss? A Q&A With The Author, Dr. David Ludwig. Jan 2016. Forbes.

Further burying the insane myth of the low-fat diet that overall has greatly increased weight gain in the US. As a personal aside (don't blow a gasket over an anecdote) most anyone who has water-fasted remembers their amazement at the near complete lack of hunger after the first day. Point being that a diet that makes you constantly hungry can not succeed for most people. A regular amount of unrefined healthy balanced fats and oils causes satiety, and the likelihood of more success in maintaining a healthy weight with more ease. The professor goes into much more detail, studies, etc.. --Timeshifter (talk) 17:04, 26 March 2023 (UTC)

Systematic review shows low-fat diets are worse

Effect of low-fat diet interventions versus other diet interventions on long-term weight change in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. In: The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. 2015 Dec;3(12):968-79. doi: 10.1016/S2213-8587(15)00367-8. Epub 2015 Oct 30. Deirdre K Tobias, Mu Chen, JoAnn E Manson, David S Ludwig, Walter Willett, Frank B Hu.

Findings and Interpretation. Bolding added.

Findings: 3517 citations were identified by the search and 53 studies met our inclusion criteria, including 68 128 participants (69 comparisons). In weight loss trials, low-carbohydrate interventions led to significantly greater weight loss than did low-fat interventions (18 comparisons; WMD 1·15 kg [95% CI 0·52 to 1·79]; I(2)=10%). Low-fat interventions did not lead to differences in weight change compared with other higher-fat weight loss interventions (19 comparisons; WMD 0·36 kg [-0·66 to 1·37; I(2)=82%), and led to a greater weight decrease only when compared with a usual diet (eight comparisons; -5·41 kg [-7·29 to -3·54]; I(2)=68%). Similarly, results of non-weight-loss trials and weight maintenance trials, for which no low-carbohydrate comparisons were made, showed that low-fat versus higher-fat interventions have a similar effect on weight loss, and that low-fat interventions led to greater weight loss only when compared with usual diet. In weight loss trials, higher-fat weight loss interventions led to significantly greater weight loss than low-fat interventions when groups differed by more than 5% of calories obtained from fat at follow-up (18 comparisons; WMD 1·04 kg [95% CI 0·06 to 2·03]; I(2)=78%), and when the difference in serum triglycerides between the two interventions at follow-up was at least 0·06 mmol/L (17 comparisons; 1·38 kg [0·50 to 2·25]; I(2)=62%). Interpretation: These findings suggest that the long-term effect of low-fat diet intervention on bodyweight depends on the intensity of the intervention in the comparison group. When compared with dietary interventions of similar intensity, evidence from RCTs [randomised controlled trials] does not support low-fat diets over other dietary interventions for long-term weight loss.

--Timeshifter (talk) 16:31, 21 July 2023 (UTC)

The article already stated that low-fat diets are not better or worse than other diets. But I have included this review as a footnote. CarlFromVienna (talk) 11:17, 24 July 2023 (UTC)

The systematic review says: "low-carbohydrate interventions led to significantly greater weight loss than did low-fat interventions". And this is from The Lancet. It is important that people know this significant fact according to WP:NPOV.

People shouldn't only hear the same junk science propaganda about low-fat diets being what people should do. I knew this decades ago. The studies were flawed from the beginning. If you do a study of any diet that maintains lower daily calories people will lose and maintain that lower weight during the study.

But that is not what counts. What counts is what people do after the study. And low-fat diets have long been known as boomerang diets due to the frequent hunger cravings maintained by the blood sugar oscillations of high carbohydrate diets. Especially when not based on whole grains. Food without enough oil tastes worse. To make it taste better people buy foods with more sugar of all types. Even more blood sugar oscillations, diabetes, prediabetes. So people actually get fatter once they stop maintaining the calorie restrictions, and only maintain the low fat. All of this is well known for decades but completely ignored by many nutritionists propagandized by the decades-old received wisdom of low-fat diets.

Low-fat diets overall actually make people fatter on average over time. It's counterintuitive which is a big reason why people keep falling for it. Eating more fat than a low-fat diet actually makes you less fat. A reasonable amount of fats and oils. Not a high-fat diet. Good fats, of course, so one doesn't get heart disease, clogged arteries, etc.. --Timeshifter (talk) 16:25, 24 July 2023 (UTC)

I appreciate your interpretation but the study comes with its own interpretation and I think we must stick with it. To my knowledge any caloric restriction will not only lead to short-term weight loss but also to ling-term weight maintenance. You mention long-term compliance, which may differ between diets, but the review above was not a study comparing compliance. CarlFromVienna (talk) 16:48, 24 July 2023 (UTC)