On Thursday, The New England Journal of Medicine published the results of a new diet-oriented study. Although the study initially intended to find the best out of three diets, it eventually confirmed that weight loss is not an easy process and that most diets are in fact unefficient.

Within the study, 322 dieters have been monitored: 277 men and 45 women. The people had to follow one of three different types of diets: the first had about 30 percent fat and was based on guidelines received from the American Heart Association; the second was a Mediterranean diet; the third, a low-carbohydrate plan, was based on the on the Atkins diet.

Dieters lost the most kilos in the first five months: while with the first two diets, people managed to lose about ten pounds, the third proved to be the most efficient, as low-carbohydrate dieters came out of it 14 pounds lighter.

After two years, all of the remaining dieters had regained some of the weight they had initially lost. In the end, those who had followed the first plan showed a six pound loss and those who had been on the Mediterranean and low-carbohydrate diets showed net losses of ten pounds.  

Scientists said that although the study’s results may seem modest at a first glance, the weight loss did help with cholesterol levels, as well as with several other health markers.

According to Iris Shai, registered dietitian with the S. Daniel Abraham International Center for Health and Nutrition and lead author of the study, in order to make the participants adopt the diet for such a long period of time, they were not given extreme diet plans. He added that "more dramatic protocols" could have probably resulted in bigger weight losses, but then, participants would have given up along the way.

The approach that was used proved to be quite successful, as 272 out of the 322 participants stayed on the assigned diets for the full two year period. 

There were some other, more subtle, differences between the three types of diets.

Men seem to have responded better to the low-carbohydrate plan; while with the third protocol they lost 11 pounds, the Mediterranean diet got them to lose 9 pounds.

With a total mean value of 14 pounds, women showed the greatest loss with the Mediterranean diet; the low-carb plan was quite far off, with only 5 pounds. The Mediterranean plan also turned out to be responsible for the most favorable modiffications in the blood glucose and insulin levels for the 36 participants with diabetes.

Lisa Harper Mallonee, a registered dietitian and a dental hygiene assistant professor at the Texas A&M Health Science Center Baylor College of Dentistry, said each person must be analyzed and provided with a moderated, individual and healthy diet.

Nowadays, there is much accesible information on diets and weight loss, especially on the Internet; however, not everything that can be found online should be trusted. While some diets recommend certain types of food, the exact same dishes are banned by other diets. One should really consider nutrition counseling before taking such delicate and potentially life changing actions.