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  • Response to Letter to the Editor
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Reply to higher- versus lower-protein diets

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 66, page 1375 (2012)Cite this article

Subjects

The letter to the editor by Lukas and Hoffman1 about our recent review of the effects of higher protein versus lower-protein diets provides us with the opportunity to draw attention to our inclusion and exclusion criteria, and in addition, highlight our conclusions that are based on moderate to low-quality evidence.

In our review, we analysed data from the measurement at the last follow-up time of randomised controlled trials, which met our inclusion criteria. Lukas and Hoffman1 indicate that they have included two studies in their meta-analysis that we have not included. We did not include the data from the long-term follow-up studies as reported by Clifton et al.2 and Brinkworth et al.3 because the differences in energy from protein between the diets at the long term follow-up was not 5% or greater. This difference was a conservative cutoff as explained in our methods and determined a priori. If no or only very small differences in protein intake are achieved, the impact on outcomes is likely to be also smaller. We did, however, include the data from the short-term follow-up of those studies when they met our criteria.

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References

  1. Lukas S, Hoffmann G . Higher- versus lower-protein diets. EJCN 2012 (this issue).

  2. Clifton PM, Keogh JB, Noakes M . Long-term effects of a high-protein weight-loss diet. Am J Clin Nutr 2008; 87: 23–29.

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  3. Brinkworth GD, Noakes M, Keogh JB, Luscombe ND, Wittert GA, Clifton PM . Long-term effects of a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet on weight control and cardiovascular risk markers in obese hyperinsulinemic subjects. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 2004; 28: 661–674.

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  4. Higgins JP, Green S Cochrane Handbook of systematic reviews, version 5.1.0 (updated 6 March 2011, http://www.cochrane-handbook.org/ ).

  5. Schünemann HJ, Oxman AD, Vist GE, Higgins JPT, Deeks JJ, Glasziou P et alon behalf of the Cochrane Applicability and Recommendations Methods Group. Chapter 12: Interpreting results and drawing conclusions. In: Higgins JP, Green S, eds Cochrane Handbook of Systematic Reviews. version 5.1.0 (updated March 6 2011, http://www.cochrane-handbook.org/.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

    N Santesso, E Akl, A Mente, D Heels-Ansdell & H J Schünemann

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  1. N Santesso
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  2. E Akl
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  3. A Mente
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  4. D Heels-Ansdell
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  5. H J Schünemann
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to H J Schünemann.

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Competing interests

Work on this reply was unfunded. The original systematic review was funded by Barilla, SpA, Parma, Italy. The funding organisation was not involved in the analysis of the study and the final decision to submit for publication, but one author of the original submission was an employee of the sponsor and she was involved in the review and interpretation of the data in the manuscript. However, the final decision about interpretation rested with the first and corresponding author.

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Santesso, N., Akl, E., Mente, A. et al. Reply to higher- versus lower-protein diets. Eur J Clin Nutr 66, 1375 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2012.155

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2012.155

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