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Morning News

Government Releases Results of Diet Study

Aired January 10, 2001 - 10:28 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Do a quick search on Amazon.com and you'll find more than 1,200 books about dieting. In fact, most Americans say they're trying to lose or maintain weight. Do those popular diets work?

Our Elizabeth Cohen is here with some results of a new government study on that topic.

How about that: the U.S. government looking into all these crazy diets that we try?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It sounds amazing. What's really amazing is that no one thought of doing this before...

KAGAN: That's true, OK.

COHEN: ... because so many Americans diet and so many Americans need to lose weight that it really actually makes sense for the government to study which of them work and which of them don't.

So what they did is they looked at many of these diet plans, like when you walk into a bookstore and you see all these books bombarding you: We have the secret! No, we have the secret! Well, what they found was that there really is no secret, that these diets do work in the short term. People really do lose weight, but simply because the diets make you eat fewer calories...

KAGAN: Duh!

COHEN: ... and it doesn't really -- duh, exactly -- and it doesn't really matter if its proteins or carbs or whatever, what really matters is that you're eating fewer calories.

However, they said that it is unclear if these diets work in the long term, or if any of them work in the long term. And so that's the next step. They need to study that.

Now, one thing that they did find when they compared diets to each other is that if you're trying to lower your cholesterol as well as lose weight, then you're better off with the low-fat diet and you're worse off with the high protein diet. The high protein diet will help you lose weight, but they found that it wouldn't lower your cholesterol as effectively. KAGAN: All right, so you're still bombarded with all these different diets and all these different choices. When you're looking at them, whether it's a book or something that a friend says you have to try or something on the Internet, what are the danger signals of things like, uh-uh, this is not the one?

COHEN: Well, the Federal Trade Commission has come up with some things that you should watch for that let you know that you should be wary of a diet. And the first one is if a diet promises that you will lose 30 pounds in just 30 days, that should be an instant warning, because if you're losing weight that fast, studies show you're going to put it on even faster.

The second one, lose weight while you sleep, they that's completely phony, big lie.

The third one, lose....

KAGAN: I like that one.

(LAUGHTER)

COHEN: That is a fun one. We wish.

The third one, lose weight and keep it off for good. No trick or diet or product is going to help you do that. Only serious hard work is going to help you do that.

The fourth one, John Doe lost 84 pounds in six weeks. Well, who really cares what John Doe did. It may not -- first of all, that may not be true. And second of all, you're not John Doe, and so it may not work for you.

The next one, scientific breakthrough/medical miracle. There are no miracles in weight loss, there's just hard work.

And then the last one, lose all the weight you can for just $39.99. Get those prices in writing because often times in diets there are hidden prices, especially if there are prepackaged meals involved. So get it in writing.

KAGAN: Right. And, actually, I think the biggest point you made is, and does it last?

COHEN: Exactly.

KAGAN: And that's the next part of the study.

COHEN: Exactly. Short-term weight loss doesn't really help you. I mean, it doesn't do...

KAGAN: It's fun.

COHEN: It's fun, but it doesn't really do anything for you. And diet -- what they found is that they really do work in the short term, but long term people really have a hard time keeping it off. KAGAN: Right. And the thing that we found is that you don't just put it back on, you put on that plus some more.

COHEN: Plus some more, exactly, exactly.

KAGAN: Bummer.

Elizabeth Cohen, thank you very much. Very helpful information there.

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