http://www.ediets.com/news/article.cfm/cmi_761624/cid_29

Low-Fat Vs. Low-Carb Study Results Misreported: Study Revealed the
Real Enemy is Junk Food
 
December 2, 2004  

BERKELEY,Calif., Nov 18, 2004 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Recent headlines
suggesting low-carb dieters were more likely to re-gain weight than
low-fat dieters resulted from misinterpretation of a study presented
earlier this month at a major conference on obesity. In fact, the
study showed no difference between the two groups of dieters. The real
"enemy" revealed by the study was junk food consumed after subjects
had lost weight.

According to Catherine LaCroix, editor in chief of LowCarb Living
magazine, the study presented earlier this month at the North American
Association for the Study of Obesity was widely misreported. "A review
of the data showed there was absolutely no difference in weight
re-gain between the 'low-carb' and 'low-fat' groups," said LaCroix.
"So we talked to Suzanne Phelan, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Human
Behavior at Brown University, who presented the study. She admits that
those headlines proclaiming 'low fat beats low carb' were 'somewhat
misleading.'"

Phelan presented data gathered from the National Weight Control
Registry (NWCR). The data showed dieters who had lost 30 pounds or
more and kept it off for at least a year regained weight when they
increased fat consumption, decreased carbohydrate consumption
somewhat, and increased total calories over and above what they had
been eating to lose the weight.

According to LaCroix, only a small percentage of subjects in the NWCR
database were even using a low-carb approach, and because the subjects
were self-selected and the data self-reported, the data may not
statistically represent the general population.

According to Carol-Jane Segal-Isaacson, EdD, RD, Assistant Professor
of Health, Behavior and Nutrition at Albert Einstein College of
Medicine, however, NWCR researchers revealed the source of extra fat
and calories wasn't butter, oils or red meat - the items one might
expect would account for a higher fat intake on a low-carb plan - it
was "junk food."

Segal-Isaacson, at the conference to present results of another study
(with data from over 1,300 low-carb subjects) found that eating foods
with added sugar was the greatest predictor of weight gain.
Participants in her study, known as the CCARBS study, who did best
were those who controlled their carbs best, ate slightly more protein
than the other groups, and who ate a lot of high-fiber vegetables,
especially dark leafy greens. She points out that those who lost the
most weight had the lowest calorie intake. Segal-Isaacson feels either
plan, low-carb or low-fat can work. "Calories count, but controlling
carbs does work, too."

LaCroix said the widely-documented popularity of low-carb diets in
America starts with their initial impact. "The success rate of
low-carb dieting is what has created this phenomenon," she said.
"People of all ages really do lose weight quickly and easily without
feeling hungry. But what these studies prove, and what we, as the
nation's leading publication for people living the low-carb lifestyle,
advocate is the importance of developing healthy eating habits for
life. Nobody stays thin -- or healthy -- eating junk food. As you add
back carbohydrates, they need to come from complex sources like whole
grains and vegetables, not from refined sugar."

****

So much for the professional and scientific integrity of this study's
authors.

TC