Calories count more than protein for weight loss

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(CBS) Is loading up on lots of protein the best way to lose weight?

PICTURES: 25 Diet-Busting Foods You Should Never Eat

Some dieters think increasing or cutting back on protein will trick the body's metabolism into causing weight loss. But a new study suggests if you're going to eat a lot, changing the amount of protein in your diet probably won't help you lose weight. In fact, too little protein might make you fatter.

"You don't fool nature by adding more or less protein," study author Dr. George Bray, an obesity researcher Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, told Health.com.  "You may fool the scale, but you don't fool the metabolic processes which store excess calories as fat."

For the study, published in the Jan. 4 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers took 25 healthy, normal-weight men and women between the ages of 18 and 35, and put them on either a low protein diet where 5 percent of their caloric intake came from proteins, a normal protein diet (15 percent from proteins), or a high protein diet (25 percent from proteins) for about 12 weeks. The researchers overfed the study participants by nearly an extra 1,000 calories for the last eight weeks of the study to see whether the amount of protein had an effect on excess calories when it came to weight gain.

By study's end, all participants gained weight, regardless of diet. Those who ate a low protein diet gained about half as much weight as those eating the normal protein and high protein diets. But the researchers found those eating less protein saw reductions in their lean body mass, and stored a higher percentage of calories as fat. Those overeating a high protein diet gained more lean body mass and stored fewer calories as fat.

"You may gain less weight by overeating on a low-protein diet, but it's because you lose lean body mass, not because you store less fat," study author Dr. George Bray, an obesity researcher Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, told USA Today.

The bottom line? Overeating - regardless of the amount of protein in your diet - will cause you to gain weight.

"Most people are overeating and for those people who are, they need to pay attention to what they are putting into their mouths," study co-author Dr. Leanne Redman, an assistant professor of endocrinology at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La., told HealthDay. "If you overeat a high-fat, low-protein diet, you may gain weight at a lower rate, but you are gaining more fat and losing more muscle."

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25 Diet-Busting Foods You Should Never Eat

[Nate650]

Once again, quality of calories and processed vs. whole foods is completely ignored.

[julianpenrod]

They said carbohydrates like pasta add weight because they are chmically similar to sugar. Then, years later, they admitted it was "what you put on pasta" that can add more weight and carbohydrates add energy.
They recommended diets almost solely bran and water during the Eighties, then admitted years later there wasn't any evidence it was worthwhile.
They warned against chocolate, then years later said the chocolate was non-caloric and any calories came from sugar.
They warned against sugar in sweetened drinks and some candies, then years later admitted that those products used corn syrup , not sugar.
They said coffee was not safe, then admitted years later that they were only looking at studies on boiled coffee in England and there could be other causes for any problems there.
They said wine was not good, then years later admitted that wine in moderation can be good for the body.
They said all salt should be removed from the diet, then years later admitted that it is a crucial electrolyte in body metabolism.
Now, years after diets started to emphasize protein rather than keeping calories moderate seem to be getting a second look.
It seems you can speed things up and avoiding damage that past diets have done simply by ignoring this "advice" from the experts" froim the start.

[atetuna]

This study turned ridiculous when they increased the amount of calories by 1000. The way a protein diet works is to substitute grams of carbs or fats with grams of protein without increasing total intake. Doing that will reduce calorie intake. Even keeping carb and fat intake the same while increasing only protein intake may result in weight loss. Adding carbs and fat, even with a large percentage of protein, is still more carbs and fat, and will result in weight gain.

[almakirk]

I somewhat agree - it's not the study that is ridiculous, but this article. The author tried to tie the study that was done to high-protein weight loss diets when in fact it has nothing do with weight loss.

Just go to the Journal of the AMA website and it has a good summary of the study, including "Objective: To evaluate the effects of overconsumption of low, normal, and high protein diets on weight gain, energy expenditure, and body composition."

I suppose more people will read the article in January if they think it is something about weight loss rather than weight gain...

[dman6015]

"The bottom line? Overeating - regardless of the amount of protein in your diet - will cause you to gain weight."

Are you guys serious with this nonsense? Gaining/losing weight has always been as simple an equation as 'calories in minus calories out'. If you take in more than you burn out, you gain weight. Doesn't matter one iota the source of the calorie.

[foo8259]

"Gaining/losing weight has always been as simple an equation as 'calories in minus calories out'. If you take in more than you burn out, you gain weight. Doesn't matter one iota the source of the calorie." Yes, it's "always been" and always been an incorrect oversimplification. They use grains to fatten livestock -- not butter.