Study on Yo-Yo Dieting Weight Gain Linked with Low Fat Diets

brendajbentley

Found an interesting study today:

Yo-Yo Weight Gain Linked with Eating Low Fat Diet
This study evaluated the effects of different diets on weight maintenance: 1) Low Fat 2) Very Low Carbohydrate 3) Low Glycemic diets. Each of these diets had same amount of calories (isocaloric). The results challenged the notion that "a calorie is a calorie" as all three diets lowered metabolism of the participants. But the low-fat diet had the biggest effect on lowering the metabolic rate. Notably, the very low-carbohydrate diet (modeled after Atkins) produced higher amounts of two compounds deleterious to health: cortisol, which is a biomarker of stress and C-reactive protein, which is a marker of inflammation.

Ebbeling CB et al. Effects of Dietary Composition on Energy Expenditure During Weight-Loss Maintenance. JAMA. 2012;307(24):2627-2634

Cortisol is the stress hormone and this has been attributed to fat storage around the middle (stress makes you body store fat in this area). So if you think you are eating healthy by avoiding or restricting certain foods or eating low fat foods, you are better off with the full fat option and eating when you are hungry and stopping when you are no longer hungry.