Thursday, March 29, 2012

Twin Study: Dieting Makes You Fatter

Int J Obes (Lond). 2012 Mar;36(3):456-64. doi: 10.1038/ijo.2011.160. Epub 2011 Aug 9. Does dieting make you fat? A twin study. Pietiläinen KH, Saarni SE, Kaprio J, Rissanen A.   PMID: 21829159 
Objective: To investigate whether the paradoxical weight gain associated with dieting is better related to genetic propensity to weight gain than to the weight loss episodes themselves. 
Subjects: Subjects included 4129 individual twins from the population-based FinnTwin16 study (90% of twins born in Finland 1975-1979). Weight and height were obtained from longitudinal surveys at 16, 17, 18 and 25 years, and number of lifetime intentional weight loss (IWL) episodes of more than 5 kg at 25 years. 
Results: IWLs predicted accelerated weight gain and risk of overweight. The odds of becoming overweight (body mass index (BMI) greater than 25 kg m(-2)) by 25 years were significantly greater in subjects with one (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.3-2.6, and OR 2.7, 1.7-4.3 in males and females, respectively), or two or more (OR 2.0, 1.3-3.3, and OR 5.2, 3.2-8.6, in males and females, respectively), IWLs compared with subjects with no IWL.  
In MZ pairs discordant for IWL, co-twins with at least one IWL were 0.4 kg m(-2) (P=0.041) heavier at 25 years than their non-dieting co-twins (no differences in baseline BMIs).  
In DZ pairs, co-twins with IWLs gained progressively more weight than non-dieting co-twins (BMI difference 1.7 kg m(-2) at 16 years and 2.2 kg m(-2) at 25 years, P<0.001). 
Conclusion: Our results suggest that frequent IWLs reflect susceptibility to weight gain, rendering dieters prone to future weight gain. The results from the MZ pairs discordant for IWLs suggest that dieting itself may induce a small subsequent weight gain, independent of genetic factors.

*MZ stands for monozygotic (identical) twins, and DZ for dizygotic (fraternal) twins.

2 comments:

Cassandra said...

Shocking, as in not really. Stop counting calories and start eating REAL food, not the industrialized garbage most people seem to think is healthy just because it's low faw/low calories.

Janeen said...

But will this stop doctors and everyone else from saying you should diet if you're overweight? NO. Grr.