You are seeing this message because your Web browser does not support basic Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing and what you can do to make your experience on this site better.


ABOUT JAMA
Advanced Search

Welcome   | My Account | E-mail Alerts | Access Rights | Sign In


  Vol. 295 No. 1, January 4, 2006 TABLE OF CONTENTS
  JAMA
  •  Online Features
  Original Contribution
 This Article
 •Full text
 •PDF
 •Send to a friend
 • Save in My Folder
 •Save to citation manager
 •Permissions
 Citing Articles
 •Citation map
 •Citing articles on HighWire
 •Citing articles on ISI (60)
 •Contact me when this article is cited
 Related Content
 •Related letters
 •Related article
 •Similar articles in JAMA
 Topic Collections
 •Obesity
 •Women's Health, Other
 •Alert me on articles by topic

Low-Fat Dietary Pattern and Weight Change Over 7 Years

The Women's Health Initiative Dietary Modification Trial

Barbara V. Howard, PhD; JoAnn E. Manson, MD, DrPH; Marcia L. Stefanick, PhD; Shirley A. Beresford, PhD; Gail Frank, DrPH; Bobette Jones, DrPH; Rebecca J. Rodabough, MS; Linda Snetselaar, PhD; Cynthia Thomson, PhD; Lesley Tinker, PhD; Mara Vitolins, DrPH; Ross Prentice, PhD

JAMA. 2006;295:39-49.

Context  Obesity in the United States has increased dramatically during the past several decades. There is debate about optimum calorie balance for prevention of weight gain, and proponents of some low-carbohydrate diet regimens have suggested that the increasing obesity may be attributed, in part, to low-fat, high-carbohydrate diets.

Objectives  To report data on body weight in a long-term, low-fat diet trial for which the primary end points were breast and colorectal cancer and to examine the relationships between weight changes and changes in dietary components.

Design, Setting, and Participants  Randomized intervention trial of 48 835 postmenopausal women in the United States who were of diverse backgrounds and ethnicities and participated in the Women's Health Initiative Dietary Modification Trial; 40% (19 541) were randomized to the intervention and 60% (29 294) to a control group. Study enrollment was between 1993 and 1998, and this analysis includes a mean follow-up of 7.5 years (through August 31, 2004).

Interventions  The intervention included group and individual sessions to promote a decrease in fat intake and increases in vegetable, fruit, and grain consumption and did not include weight loss or caloric restriction goals. The control group received diet-related education materials.

Main Outcome Measure  Change in body weight from baseline to follow-up.

Results  Women in the intervention group lost weight in the first year (mean of 2.2 kg, P<.001) and maintained lower weight than control women during an average 7.5 years of follow-up (difference, 1.9 kg, P<.001 at 1 year and 0.4 kg, P = .01 at 7.5 years). No tendency toward weight gain was observed in intervention group women overall or when stratified by age, ethnicity, or body mass index. Weight loss was greatest among women in either group who decreased their percentage of energy from fat. A similar but lesser trend was observed with increases in vegetable and fruit servings, and a nonsignificant trend toward weight loss occurred with increasing intake of fiber.

Conclusion  A low-fat eating pattern does not result in weight gain in postmenopausal women.

Clinical Trial Registration  ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00000611


Author Affiliations: MedStar Research Institute, Washington, DC (Dr Howard); Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass (Dr Manson); Stanford School of Medicine, Stanford, Calif (Dr Stefanick); Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Wash (Drs Beresford, Tinker, and Prentice and Ms Rodabough); University of California at Irvine, Orange (Dr Frank); University of North Carolina School of Medicine and Public Health, Durham (Dr Jones); University of Iowa, Iowa City (Dr Snetselaar); University of Arizona, Department of Nutritional Sciences and Arizona Cancer Center, Tucson (Dr Thomson); and Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC (Dr Vitolins).


RELATED LETTERS

Low-Fat Diet and Weight Change in Postmenopausal Women
Penelope J. Greene
JAMA. 2006;296(4):394.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Low-Fat Diet and Weight Change in Postmenopausal Women—Reply
Barbara V. Howard, JoAnn E. Manson, Marcia L. Stefanick, Shirley A. Beresford, Gail Frank, Bobette Jones, Rebecca J. Rodabough, Linda Snetselaar, Cynthia Thomson, Lesley Tinker, Mara Vitolins, and Ross Prentice
JAMA. 2006;296(4):394-395.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

RELATED ARTICLE

Low-Fat Diets and Weight Change
Michael L. Dansinger and Ernst J. Schaefer
JAMA. 2006;295(1):94-95.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Dietary Management of Obesity
Astrup
JPEN J Parenter Enteral Nutr 2008;32:575-577.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Low-Fat Dietary Pattern and Risk of Treated Diabetes Mellitus in Postmenopausal Women: The Women's Health Initiative Randomized Controlled Dietary Modification Trial
Tinker et al.
Arch Intern Med 2008;168:1500-1511.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Effect of Exercise on 24-Month Weight Loss Maintenance in Overweight Women
Jakicic et al.
Arch Intern Med 2008;168:1550-1559.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Alternatives for macronutrient intake and chronic disease: a comparison of the OmniHeart diets with popular diets and with dietary recommendations
de Souza et al.
Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 2008;88:1-11.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Weight Loss Strategies Associated With BMI in Overweight Adults With Type 2 Diabetes at Entry Into the Look AHEAD (Action for Health in Diabetes) Trial
Raynor et al.
Diabetes Care 2008;31:1299-1304.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Change in Fruit and Vegetable Intake Over 24 Months in Older Adults: Results of the SENIOR Project Intervention
Greene et al.
Gerontologist 2008;48:378-387.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Use of Recovery Biomarkers to Calibrate Nutrient Consumption Self-Reports in the Women's Health Initiative
Neuhouser et al.
Am J Epidemiol 2008;167:1247-1259.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

A novel interaction between dietary composition and insulin secretion: effects on weight gain in the Quebec Family Study
Chaput et al.
Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 2008;87:303-309.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Are there specific treatments for the metabolic syndrome?
Giugliano et al.
Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 2008;87:8-11.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Family Dietary Coaching to Improve Nutritional Intakes and Body Weight Control: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Paineau et al.
Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2008;162:34-43.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Low-Fat Dietary Pattern and Cancer Incidence in the Women's Health Initiative Dietary Modification Randomized Controlled Trial
Prentice et al.
JNCI J Natl Cancer Inst 2007;99:1534-1543.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Exercise and Biomarkers for Cancer Prevention Studies
Campbell and McTiernan
J. Nutr. 2007;137:161S-169S.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Dietary Fat and Breast Cancer: Contributions From a Survival Trial
Thiebaut et al.
JNCI J Natl Cancer Inst 2006;98:1753-1755.
FULL TEXT  

The Year in Epidemiology, Health Services Research, and Outcomes Research
Krumholz and Masoudi
J Am Coll Cardiol 2006;48:1886-1895.
FULL TEXT  

Intake of macronutrients as predictors of 5-y changes in waist circumference.
Halkjaer et al.
Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 2006;84:789-797.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

The Changing Roles of Dietary Carbohydrates: From Simple to Complex
Griel et al.
Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Bio. 2006;26:1958-1965.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

A low fat diet led to a minor weight loss at 7.5 years in postmenopausal women
Simon
Evid. Based Med. 2006;11:109-109.
FULL TEXT  

Low-fat diet and weight change in postmenopausal women.
Greene
JAMA 2006;296:394-394.
FULL TEXT  

Alternatives to low-fat diets
Katan
Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 2006;83:989-990.
FULL TEXT  

Yes, Diet Matters!
Mayer-Davis
DOC News 2006;3:3-3.
FULL TEXT  

WOMEN'S HEALTH INITIATIVE UPDATE: Low-Fat Diets Not Associated with Weight Gain
JWatch Women's Health 2006;2006:1-1.
FULL TEXT  

Low-Fat or Low-Carb for Weight Loss?
Beckley
DOC News 2006;3:1-21.
FULL TEXT  

Weight Loss with a Low-Fat, High-Carb Diet in Postmenopausal Women
Journal Watch Cardiology 2006;2006:2-2.
FULL TEXT  

Low-Fat Dietary Pattern and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease: The Women's Health Initiative Randomized Controlled Dietary Modification Trial
Howard et al.
JAMA 2006;295:655-666.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Dietary Modification and CVD Prevention: A Matter of Fat
Anderson and Appel
JAMA 2006;295:693-695.
FULL TEXT  

Low-Fat Diets and Weight Change
Dansinger and Schaefer
JAMA 2006;295:94-95.
FULL TEXT  





HOME | CURRENT ISSUE | PAST ISSUES | TOPIC COLLECTIONS | CME | SUBMIT | SUBSCRIBE | HELP
CONDITIONS OF USE | PRIVACY POLICY | CONTACT US | SITE MAP
 
© 2006 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.