When we want to lose weight, our first instinct is often to stop fat : we say “goodbye” to buttered toast for breakfast, melted butter in the cake dough, olive oil seasonings in our salads … And we ban butter, oil and margarine from our cupboards.
Except that according to researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health (in the United States), going on a low-fat diet would have absolutely no effect on weight loss.
To come to this (surprisingly) conclusion, scientists compiled data from 53 studies, out of a total of 68,128 participants. On average, after about a year, the volunteers (men and women, of different ages) had lost 1 or 2 kg, no more. And many were the victims of the “yo-yo” effect.
Slimming is not a matter of deprivation
On the other hand, by working on these data, scientists have shown thata low sugar diet (and in particular in artificial sugar, the most harmful to health) was already much more effective.
“In general, we believe that weight loss is not a matter of deprivation, explains Deirdre Tobias, main author of this work published in the specialized journal The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. It seems more relevant to us to work on patients’ lifestyle habits: to teach them how to compose a balanced plate, for example, or to practice regular physical activity. “
And to add: “consumed in a reasonable way, fat have their place in the food balance ”. No need, therefore, to deprive yourself of it on a daily basis!