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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 The findings appear in the Jan. 4 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
For the trial, 48,835 postmenopausal women in the United States were randomly assigned to a low-fat dietary intervention or to a control group and then were followed for a mean of 7.5 years.
Women in the low-fat dietary group attended both group and individual sessions on how to decrease fat intake and increase vegetable, fruit and grain consumption. There were no instructions or guidelines on weight loss or calorie restriction.
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The control group received diet-related education materials.
Women in the low-fat dietary group lost a mean of 2.2 kilograms (4.8 pounds) in the first year. After that, they maintained a lower weight than the women in the control group and did not exceed their baseline weight at any time during the study.
Women who decreased the amount of calories they were consuming from fat lost the most weight. Weight loss, albeit not as great, was also seen in women who increased vegetable and fruit servings. Weight loss was also seen among women who increased their fiber consumption, but this was not considered significant, the researchers said.
"These results do not support previous notions that a low-fat diet is the cause of the obesity epidemic," Obarzanek said. "This pretty much shows that certain things we do now are healthful, such as low saturated fat intake."
The question of whether such a diet has a beneficial effect on other health matters is still an open one.
"We really need to see the results of the trial to see whether following this diet is good for cancer or cardiovascular disease," Obarzanek said. "Let's see what happens."
More information
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (www.nal.usda.gov ) has more on low-fat diets.
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