Study Examines Effect of Total Fat Intake on Body Weight

A recent World Health Organization-commissioned meta-analysis has reportedly concluded that diets lower in fat can reduce relative body weight by 1.6 kg, BMI by 0.56kg/m2 and waist circumference by 0.5 cm. Lee Hooper, et al., “Effect of reducing total fat intake on body weight: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials and cohort studies,” BMJ, December 2012. After analyzing results from 33 randomized control trials involving 73,589 participants and 10 cohort studies, researchers apparently found “high quality, consistent evidence that reduction of total fat intake has been achieved in large numbers of both healthy and at risk participants over many years.”

In particular, the meta-analysis suggested that each 1 percent reduction
in energy from total fat “resulted in a 0.19 kg reduction in body weight,
compared with not altering total fat intake, in populations with 23-43%
of energy from total fat, and in studies of six months to over eight years,”
according to a concurrent BMJ press release. The results also evidently
indicated that reductions in fat were associated “with a small but statistically
significant reduction in cholesterol and blood pressure, suggesting a beneficial
effect on other major cardiovascular risk factors.” See BMJ Press Release,
December 5, 2012.