Thread by @VegetableManDan

I took some time to look at the DIETFITS' (i.e., that low-carb vs. low-fat study everyone talk about this week) actual diet strategy. I just wanted to share some concepts about it that I haven't seen discussed.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…

There were three central components to both diet approaches. The first was to "go as low as you can go" with carbs or fats for the first eight weeks.

The second component (titrate) involved instructing participants to slowly add fat or carbs back to their diet in increments of 5-15 grams/day (with no set endpoint goal for a specific level of fat or carb). Just find lowest amount they could maintain for "many years to come."

The third component was promoting high diet quality. Both groups were told to consume "whole/real foods" and eliminate, as much as possible, "processed food products."

For such a rigorous trial (FYI: I'm not trying to play armchair researcher at all. Way too easy to do on twitter), I'm surprised by how they categorized "high quality foods." What evidence did they use for the highlighted section?

Both groups also learned about cooking techniques, the importance of sleep, exercise, and mindful eating.

Quality again was promoted through the recommendation of joining a CSA or using a home delivery food service.

Interventionists also emphasized behavior modification strategies to both groups based on the Social Cognitive Model.

When you look at those diet quality recommendations it makes sense when you assess the demographics that participated. Around 35% of participants in both groups had a postgraduate degree (12% is the average for the US).

census.gov/content/dam/Ce…

Also, the participants were adults from Stanford and San Francisco Bay areas of California (i.e., not representative of the entire US).

In the end, the study/study design is definitely worth a read, and I applaud the researchers for conducting such an impressive trial.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29466592

As always, @Nutrevolve had some good thoughts about the trial too.

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