• Bradley C Johnston, Steve Kanters, Kristofer Bandayrel, Ping Wu, Faysal Naji, Reed A Siemieniuk, Geoff D C Ball, Jason W Busse, Kristian Thorlund, Gordon Guyatt, Jeroen P Jansen, and Edward J Mills.
• Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada2Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada3Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McMaster University, Hami.
• JAMA. 2014 Sep 3;312(9):923-33.

ImportanceMany claims have been made regarding the superiority of one diet or another for inducing weight loss. Which diet is best remains unclear.ObjectiveTo determine weight loss outcomes for popular diets based on diet class (macronutrient composition) and named diet.Data SourcesSearch of 6 electronic databases: AMED, CDSR, CENTRAL, CINAHL, EMBASE, and MEDLINE from inception of each database to April 2014.Study SelectionOverweight or obese adults (body mass index ≥25) randomized to a popular self-administered named diet and reporting weight or body mass index data at 3-month follow-up or longer.Data Extraction And SynthesisTwo reviewers independently extracted data on populations, interventions, outcomes, risk of bias, and quality of evidence. A Bayesian framework was used to perform a series of random-effects network meta-analyses with meta-regression to estimate the relative effectiveness of diet classes and programs for change in weight and body mass index from baseline. Our analyses adjusted for behavioral support and exercise.Main Outcomes And MeasuresWeight loss and body mass index at 6- and 12-month follow-up (±3 months for both periods).ResultsAmong 59 eligible articles reporting 48 unique randomized trials (including 7286 individuals) and compared with no diet, the largest weight loss was associated with low-carbohydrate diets (8.73 kg [95% credible interval {CI}, 7.27 to 10.20 kg] at 6-month follow-up and 7.25 kg [95% CI, 5.33 to 9.25 kg] at 12-month follow-up) and low-fat diets (7.99 kg [95% CI, 6.01 to 9.92 kg] at 6-month follow-up and 7.27 kg [95% CI, 5.26 to 9.34 kg] at 12-month follow-up). Weight loss differences between individual diets were minimal. For example, the Atkins diet resulted in a 1.71 kg greater weight loss than the Zone diet at 6-month follow-up. Between 6- and 12-month follow-up, the influence of behavioral support (3.23 kg [95% CI, 2.23 to 4.23 kg] at 6-month follow-up vs 1.08 kg [95% CI, -1.82 to 3.96 kg] at 12-month follow-up) and exercise (0.64 kg [95% CI, -0.35 to 1.66 kg] vs 2.13 kg [95% CI, 0.43 to 3.85 kg], respectively) on weight loss differed.Conclusions And RelevanceSignificant weight loss was observed with any low-carbohydrate or low-fat diet. Weight loss differences between individual named diets were small. This supports the practice of recommending any diet that a patient will adhere to in order to lose weight.

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