A no-calorie limit Mediterranean diet rich in olive oil is not a recipe for weight gain – and may actually be a better strategy than avoiding all fatty foods, research has shown.
The finding adds to the current controversy surrounding health advice which recommends low-fat diets.
Current guidelines are misguided because they do not differentiate between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ fats, it is claimed.
A total of 7,447 men and women took part in the new research in Spain between 2003 and 2010. All had Type 2 diabetes or were considered at high risk of heart disease, and 90 per cent were overweight or obese.
Participants were randomly assigned to one of three diets – an unrestricted Mediterranean diet especially rich in olive oil, a similar diet with the focus on nuts, and a diet that generally avoided all kinds of fat.
After five years, all three groups were found to have shed a small amount of weight, but people on the olive oil-rich diet lost the most – an average of 0.88kg.
Members of the low-fat group lost 0.60kg while those on the nut-rich diet were 0.40kg lighter.
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