Weight loss with a low-carbohydrate, Mediterranean, or low-fat diet
In plain English
A two-year workplace trial in Israel randomised 322 moderately obese adults to a low-fat, Mediterranean, or low-carbohydrate diet, with high adherence enforced by an on-site cafeteria. The Mediterranean and low-carbohydrate diets produced more weight loss than the low-fat diet (about 4.6 kg and 5.5 kg versus 3.3 kg), and the Mediterranean diet gave the best glycaemic control in the diabetic subgroup while low-carb most improved lipids. It was one of the first long, well-controlled trials to challenge the low-fat orthodoxy of the era.
Why it matters
Over two years, Mediterranean and low-carb diets beat a low-fat diet for weight loss and metabolic markers.
Informs: Weight Loss·Diabetes·Heart Disease
Provenance
- Design
- Randomised controlled trial
- Sample size (n)
- 322
- Follow-up
- 2 years
- Peer-reviewed
- Yes
- Replications
- 2
- Funding
- Mixed (public + private/non-profit)
- Funders
- Dr. Robert C. Atkins Research Foundation, Nuclear Research Center Negev
- Institutions
- Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
decades.plus score
A transparent 0–100 weighted sum across six components. Higher scores reflect bigger, cleaner, more replicated work.
Caveats
Largely male workforce at a single research campus with cafeteria-supported adherence, which aids generalisation about efficacy but not real-world conditions. Partly funded by the Atkins Foundation, which is disclosed; the low-carb arm in practice drifted toward a Mediterranean-style intake rather than strict ketogenic eating.
