Dietary fat intake has been blamed for the increase in adiposity and has led to a worldwide effort to decrease the amount of fat in the diet. However, the comparative efficacy of this approach is debatable. Whilst short-term dietary intervention studies show that
low-fat diets lead to
weight loss in both healthy and
overweight individuals, it is less clear if a reduction in fat intake is more efficacious than other
dietary restrictions in the long term. The purpose of this systematic review was to determine the effectiveness of
low-fat diets in achieving sustained
weight loss when used for the express purpose of
weight loss in obese or
overweight people. A comprehensive search identified six studies that fulfilled our criteria for inclusion (randomized controlled trial, participants either
overweight or obese, comparison of a
low-fat diet with another type of weight-
reducing diet, follow-up period that was at least 6 months in duration and inclusion of participants 18 years or older without serious disease). There were a total of 594 participants in the six trials. The duration of the intervention varied from 3 to 18 months with follow-up from 6 to 18 months. There were no significant differences between
low-fat diets and other weight-
reducing diets in terms of sustained
weight loss. Furthermore, the overall
weight loss at the 12-18-month follow-up in all studies was very small (2-4 kg). In
overweight or obese individuals who are dieting for the purpose of
weight reduction,
low-fat diets are as efficacious as other weight-
reducing diets for achieving sustained
weight loss, but not more so.