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Obesity

Have new guidelines overlooked the role of diet composition?

New US guidelines for the management of overweight and obesity have disregarded robust evidence from intervention trials demonstrating the importance of dietary factors for weight control and disease prevention. This omission implies that diet composition does not matter, a stance that is potentially counterproductive for prevention and treatment strategies.

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Correspondence to Arne Astrup.

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Competing interests

Arne Astrup has conducted research funded by meat and dairy organizations, and currently acts as consultant for the following companies with interests in the food marketing sector: Gerson Lehrman Group, USA (ad hoc consultant for clients), Global Dairy Platform, USA, Jenny Craig, USA, McCain Foods Limited, USA and McDonald's, USA.

Jennie Brand-Miller is President of the Glycemic Index Foundation, a not-for-profit health promotion charity that educates consumers and health professionals about the benefits of a healthy low-GI diet.

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Astrup, A., Brand-Miller, J. Have new guidelines overlooked the role of diet composition?. Nat Rev Endocrinol 10, 132–133 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2013.271

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