I hope this telly concept makes it to the States. It would be more entertaining than "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" for my money.

I am a bit disapointed in the conclusion ie the lack of numbers and analysis. No figures for drop out rates though I think ww was the highest. No figures representing the weight loss or other blood findings

Their general finding was that Atkins was safe and effective over 6 months and that adding exercise made a significant efffect on success or otherwise.

I think they need to do a 1 yr follow up as I think some of these diets are going to have very high relapse rates. There's no point losing it in 6 months and putting it all back on again with interest.

I do hope the figures will be forthcoming sometime and they do a follow up

I was also very disappointed with the final programme, as I was expecting much more in the way of scientific data - results of blood tests, DEXA scanning etc.

However, the BBC has published the following, where a little more information is forthcoming:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/diettri...s_results.shtml

The general conclusion seems to be

" The differences revealed by this study are more helpful in identifying which diet works best for each individual, as no one diet can be identified as 'best' overall."

Diet Trials – Final Programme and overall summary

The 4 diets being compared over the 6-month scientific trial were Atkins, Weight Watchers, Rosemary Conley and SlimFast.
At the beginning Dr A let the way in terms of weight loss. Dr Chris Mair lost 1.5 stone (21 pounds) in the first 4 weeks. The study showed that it is important to exercise as well as Chris Mair, who lost 4 stone overall lost 1 stone (14 pounds) of muscle as he did not additional exercise. Thus the more exercise you take the higher loss of body fat. Those on Rosemary C, where exercise is part of the plan, lost more fat and less muscle than everyone else. As the trial continued those on WW and Rosemary C caught up on the weight loss front. The results on SlimFast were very varied with weight loss of between 4 pounds and 4 stone. It depends if it suits you.

Blood was taken throughout. The study proved that there is no evidence for harm of following Atkins. Cholesterol levels did not increase as some would have thought, but they did not go down significantly. Rosemary C and WW saw a definite lowering of blood cholesterol. SlimFast showed no lowering of cholesterol and it was the same as the non-dieting group.
Triglycerides in the blood fell most for those on Atkins, particularly women. There was no lowering of triglycerides on SlimFast. Those that exercised and got fitter had lower blood pressure and lower insulin levels. There was concern about the nutritional basis of Atkins and having to take nutritional supplements. But this was a personal opinion rather than evidence based.

There is no one diet that suits all. You need to find one that you can use long term and change your life accordingly. Exercise is very important. You need to chose a diet that fits into your lifestyle and that you can come to enjoy, for success.

Overall, in the 6 months, the 300 dieters lost 211 stone (2,954 pounds).

Looking at the diets individually –
Dr Atkins – showed what you could and could not eat, some disadvantages like headaches, diahorrea, bad breath. Early effects are very dramatic, but by 3 months the others had caught up. As on any of the diets, alcohol was a problem and slowed you down. Seems to suit men best and those who want a quick weight loss.
Jeni, South African in Scotland, lost 2 st 3 pounds to reach her goal
Hector, the Irish fireman, lost just under 1 stone, his sweet tooth let him down
Richard Owen, the biker, lost almost 4 stone as did Dr Chris Mair.

SlimFast – You either love it or hate it, replacing 2 meals with SlimFast soups or shakes. One problem is wind. In general the fruit and veg intake of dieters seems to have gone down, even though it is recommended that these should be what you snack on. Many people started to regularly cheat after 8 weeks.
Stephanie Holland lost just under 2 stone
Scott, the lorry driver, lost over 1 stone
However, Lesley White just lost 4 pounds in the 6 months
Sean Lennon lost 4 stone of which he lost 2.75 stone in 3 months.

Weight Watchers – You can eat a little of everything, all of which have a points value. It is the diet that most people would have selected by choice and very few dropped out during the study. However by the end only a third of men and a half of women were still going to the classes. This suits those who like going to group meetings, is good for families. It was found that generally men did not improve their fitness on WW.
Maria lost 1 st 9 pounds in total, she had lost 2 stone, so the death of buster set her back, but she aims to get back on track shortly.
Barretts lost 4.5 stone between them, so their expensive wine taste must have been tempered to enable this.
John Berry, who lost 2 stone and enquired about becoming a WW leader has now heard that he has been accepted, so watch this space, particularly as I understand he lives near me.
Gillian, the binge girl, had lost a stone, but her appearance had improved considerably because of the exercise she did.

Rosemary Conley – On this diet you take regular exercise, count calories and eat nothing with a fat content higher than 4%. This diet lost the most body fat and least lean tissue. This is not an attractive option for men because of the exercise classes. Apparently for the 40,000 on the Rosemary C plan only 100 are men.
Lisa Osbourne, the maternity nurse, lost 1.5 stone and met Rosemary C.
Pete lost just 8 pounds and found it very difficult to go to exercise classes
Kerry, the Irish bus driver, just lost a few pounds in the end after she gave up after she broke her arm.
Mary Watson, see below, lost 4 st 6 pounds.

So from the 300 dieters the top three for weight loss were
3rd – Richard Owen, 3 st 10 lb on Atkins
2nd – Chris Mair, 4 st on Atkins
2nd – Sean Lennon, 4 st on SlimFast
1st – Mary Watson, 4 st 6 lb on Rosemary C

Apparently 14 years ago Mary lost her son to cancer and then sat and comfort ate to pass the time. She went from 10 st 10 lb to 16 st. At 58 she decided to change her life and became determined to be slimmer by the time she was 60. She did a lot of hill walking with her husband and the before and after photos are truly amazing.

A good programme all round. It proves that Atkins is safe and that as we all know, different diets suit different people and its how it suits your lifestyle that is important.

Its interesting that the review did not mention how many calories the different dieters had. Its always nice to hear the low-carbers loosing weight eating more calories.

The other missing item is, which dieters plan on continuing their diet and for how long.

I just wanted to add that I have found the diet trials program an inspiration… I had heard of the Atkins program before it started but had mainly taken on board that it was a FAD diet with severe health risks. I had no plans to watch the program and switched it over by accident and became hooked.

Both me and my partner are similar weights, and realise that we have a lot to loose, but enjoy good food. So have been in denial and avoided diets, as my previous experience of calorie counting and Slimfast were horrendous, I was hungry all the time and got bored so just gave up.

So we bought the books, and started 4 days ago and so far we are loving it. Today we weighed ourselves for the first time since starting and have both lost 4.5 Lbs.

Good on the BBC for producing a program that gave an honest and real view on each of the diets, using real people..

Lucy (A new Low-Carb recruit)