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 Not
all weight loss plans are good for our health, a new study reports!
There's no shortage of weight-loss plans to
choose from, however, some of the most popular ones fall short in
dietary quality, according to a new study. In an analysis of eight
popular diets in the US, researchers found that the Ornish plan, the
Weight Watchers High-Carbohydrate diet, and the New Glucose
Revolution plan came out on top in terms of nutritional quality and
potential effects on heart health.
What the plans all had in common were high
amounts of fruits, vegetables and fiber, and low amounts of artery
clogging types of fat, researchers found. At the bottom of the list
came the high-protein, low-carbohydrate Atkins plan, for its more
liberal view towards red meat, saturated fat and trans fats, and low
amounts of fruit and fiber. The findings are published in the
Journal of the American Dietetic Association.
For overweight and obese adults, it’s important
not only to shed pounds, but to do it by eating heart-healthy foods,
explained Dr Yunsheng Ma, the study’s lead author and an assistant
professor of medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical
School in Worcester. “Obese people already have a higher risk of
heart disease,” Ma told Reuters Health. So it’s particularly
important that they make heart-healthy diet changes that can be kept
up for the long haul, the researcher noted.
For their study, Dr. Ma and colleagues used a
measure called the Alternate Healthy Eating Index (AHEI) to judge
the quality of eight widely-used diet plans. They picked six of the
diets from the New York Times bestseller list; they also included
the Weight Watchers plan, as it is the largest commercial plan in
the US, as well as the federal government’s 2005 Food Guide Pyramid,
since it offers public diet guidelines. The AHEI evaluates a diet’s
potential heart benefits based on factors such as the amount of
fruits, vegetables and fiber, and the ratio of heart-healthy
polyunsaturated fats to cholesterol raising saturated fat.
The top score went to the Ornish diet, a low-fat,
largely vegetarian plan that allows some non-fat dairy and egg
whites. The diet, developed by Dr Dean Ornish, is intended to
prevent and treat heart disease, so its high score – 64.6 out of 70
points – is not unexpected. Also scoring well, at just over 57
points, were the Weight Watchers High-Carbohydrate and the New
Glucose Revolution diets – which, like Ornish, contain high amounts
of fruits, vegetables and fiber-rich grains. The Glucose diet is
based on the concept of the glycemic index; it limits simple
carbohydrates that cause quick blood-sugar spikes – like potatoes
and white bread – but allows complex carbohydrates higher in fiber
and other nutrients.
The Atkins plan and some other low carb,
high-protein diets, including the Weight Watchers High-Protein
option, were deemed less heart-healthy. Surprisingly, Dr. Ma said, the
government’s Food Pyramid landed in the middle. Though the Pyramid
was revamped in 2005, it still falls short of the top-ranked diets
as far as fruits, vegetables, fiber and limits on “bad” fats.
The researchers are not advocating any one brand
of weight-loss plan. But, Ma said, people who are trying to lose
weight can look to the components of the top-scoring diets to help
fashion a heart-healthy eating plan.
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