Study Finds Food Choices Key in Controlling Weight

June 28, 2011

It's a common belief that eating in moderation, whatever you eat, is the key to successfully managing your weight. But that belief is being challenged by a new study of the diet and lifestyle habits of more than 120,000 adult Americans over the past 20 years. Researchers found that even small changes in diet had a significant impact on long-term weight gain

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U.S. adults gain on average a half-kilogram, or about one pound, each year, and the kinds of food they at are important factors in that weight gain.

“It's very hard for the average person to notice that, but over 20 years it's 20 pounds [10 kg.] and so that’s really an enormous public health problem,” said Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, lead researcher on the study by the Harvard School of Public Health. He says the foods most closely associated with weight gain are those highest in starch, and the worst offenders are potatoes - baked, boiled, mashed, or fried. Eaten daily in whatever form, they can add more than half a kilogram [0.68 kg, or 1.5 lbs.] to an adult's weight every four years.

To control that weight over the long term, the researchers say it is more important to focus on eating right than on eating less, suggesting that the type of food matters more than a simple calorie-count.

“Foods which were strongly associated with weight gain were meats, refined grains, and then sweets. Interestingly, refined grains like a bagel or white bread were similarly associated with weight gain as sweets,” Mozaffarian said.