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Current national guidelines recommend a reduced-calorie, low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet for weight loss. Comparisons with low-carbohydrate diets have had limitations, prompting these researchers to conduct a randomized trial of four popular diets: Atkins (very low-carb), Zone (low-carb), LEARN (guideline-recommended), and Ornish (very high-carb, very low-fat). Participants were 311 overweight, nondiabetic, premenopausal women (age range, 25–50; 71% white; mean body-mass index, 32).
The 1-year retention rate was similar among the groups (range, 76%–88%). By 1 year, mean weight loss was greatest in the Atkins group (–4.7 kg), followed by the Ornish (–2.6 kg), LEARN (–2.2 kg), and Zone (–1.6 kg) groups. Only the difference between Atkins and Z…