Low-Fat vs Low-Carbohydrate Diets and Weight Loss

To the Editor In a 12-month, behavior modification diet intervention study, Dr Gardner and colleagues¹ compared the effects of a healthy low-fat diet with a healthy low-carbohydrate diet on weight loss among 609 overweight adults. The authors did not find a significant difference in weight loss between the 2 diet intervention groups, in line with results from several previous studies.² Different from traditional diet intervention trials, 1 of the primary aims of the DIETFITS study was to test diet × genotype pattern interactions on weight loss in response to the diet intervention. The authors did not observe significant diet × genotype pattern interactions and concluded that there was no significant difference in genotype pattern associated with the dietary effects on weight loss.