Low-fat, low-carb or high-protein? The kind of diet doesn’t matter, scientists say. All that really counts is cutting calories and sticking with it, according to a federal study that followed people for two years.
Some previous studies have found that low carbohydrate diets like Atkins work better than a traditional low-fat diet. But the new research found that the key to losing weight boiled down to a basic rule — calories in, calories out.
The study, "Comparison of Weight-Loss Diets with Different Compositions of Fat, Protein, and Carbohydrates", which appears in the New England Journal of Medicine, was led by Harvard School of Public Health and Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana.
Read "Forget low-fat--calories count more in dieting" or view MSNBC's "Great Diet Debate" video clip for more information.