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Modified macronutrient diets and weight loss—are food choice and variety more important than caloric restriction?

Nature Clinical Practice Endocrinology & Metabolism volume 3, pages 728–729 (2007)Cite this article

Obesity is the most important public health threat faced by developed nations today. Despite enormous popular and scientific attention focused on this disorder, the prevalence of obesity and its comorbidities continues to rise. The usual approach taken to reduce body fat mass is to consciously limit caloric intake, both by reducing the quantity of food eaten and by limiting dietary fat, the most energy-dense macronutrient. Indeed, it has been estimated that at any particular time, approximately one-third of the US population is attempting to lose weight, primarily by dietary energy restriction.1 Unfortunately, decreasing energy intake as the sole strategy to reduce body fat mass usually fails because of the associated increase in appetite and decrease in total daily energy expenditure. Decreased energy expenditure can be partially offset by an increase in physical activity, one of the hallmarks of a successful weight-loss effort. In this Viewpoint, I discuss an alternative approach to caloric restriction to promote weight loss: the modified macronutrient diet.

The poor long-term weight loss achieved by energy-restricted diets alone has set the stage for numerous diets in which macronutrient intake is altered but conscious caloric restriction is not required (i.e. ad libitum diets). The typical American currently consumes 45–50% of energy as carbohydrate, 34–37% as fat, and 15–18% as protein. Despite claims to the contrary, diets that markedly deviate from this macronutrient distribution do not work by increasing energy expenditure. Rather, the specified change in macronutrient intake leads to decreased food consumption, both through increased satiety and decreased variety of allowed foods. Like traditional diets, these diets also achieve energy restriction, but in a manner that might be better tolerated by a given individual.

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  1. Endocrinology, Box 359757, University of Washington, Harborview Medical Center, 325 Ninth Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104, USA weigle@u.washington.edu

Authors and Affiliations

  1. DS Weigle is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology and Nutrition, University of Washington Harborview Medical Center, Seattle, WA, USA.,

    David S Weigle

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Weigle, D. Modified macronutrient diets and weight loss—are food choice and variety more important than caloric restriction?. Nat Rev Endocrinol 3, 728–729 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncpendmet0636

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