The following article appeared in the UK newspaper, The Daily Mail, yesterday:
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Why Men Make Better Dieters Than Women
Richard Price, Daily Mail, 24 March, 2003
For the despairing female weight-watcher, the news may bring on severe indigestion. Scientists have proved that men are much better at dieting than women. Not only do they find it easier, they lose more weight.
In the largest comparative dieting study ever conducted, male volunteers lost twice as much as their female counterparts.
The 6-month study, conducted by Surrey University, monitored 300 men and women using Britain's four most popular diets – Weight Watchers, Slim Fast, Rosemary Conley and Dr Atkins.
At the end of the trial, 13 out of the top 20 dieters were male, even though men made up only 30% of the participants.
The study is being carried out for Diet Trials, a BBC1 series which will conclude on April 2 with the final results, including a verdict on which of the four diets is the most successful.
But the unexpected outcome was that men appeared to lose weight more easily, no matter which diet they followed.
Lyndel Costain, an independent dietician who monitored the experiment, said: "What was especially interesting was the success of the men on all four of the programmes. We found that the Atkins Diet, however, seemed to be the most effective for men, because you can eat a lot of meat, and you don't need to think about portion size."
The Atkins plan advocates a diet rich in protein and low in carbohydrates, so eggs, bacon, steak and cheese are allowed, but bread, pasta and starchy vegetables are restricted.
Miss Costain said men also had natural advantages because of their higher metabolic rates and inherent competitiveness. "Once men put their mind to something, they are generally determined to make it work," she said. "Men are also bigger than women. They have more muscle and their metabolism and calorie need is higher. They tend automatically to be a bit more active. Also, their self esteem isn't generally linked to their body image. Men tend not to comfort eat as much, while a lot of women are still more involved in shopping and cooking than men, and so have more exposure to food."
The volunteers were aged between 21 and 60 and were all classed as either overweight or obese, according to their body mass index.
The 14-part series will ultimately find which diet works best for which sort of person. Dr Helen Truby, a lecturer in nutrition at Surrey University, and one of the study's co-ordinators, said that while some of the male weight loss could be explained by the fact that men weighed more to start with, this did not account for all of the difference.
She said: "It was clear that men have fewer emotional issues around food and are often helped by very supportive partners, so find it easier to lose weight."
Diet Trials does offer some consolation for women. The dieter who lost the most weight during the six-month test was female.
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You can find out more about the BBC's Diet trials at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/diettrials/
and also:
http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthre...&threadid=92750