20Some food bioactives potentially exert anti-obesity effects. Anthocyanins, catechins, beta-glucan, and 21 n-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids are among the most promising candidates and have been 22 considered as a strategy for the development of functional foods counteracting body weight gain. At 23 present, clinical trials, reviews and meta-analyses addressing anti-obesity effects of various bioactives 24 or bioactive-rich foods show contradictory results. Abdominal obesity is an important criterion for 25 metabolic syndrome diagnosis along with glucose intolerance, dyslipidemia, and hypertension. Food 26 bioactives are supposed to exert beneficial effects on these parameters, therefore representing an 27 alternative therapy approaches for the treatment of the metabolic syndrome. This review summarizes 28 outcomes on metabolic syndrome biomarkers in recent clinical trials supplementing anthocyanins, 29 catechins, beta-glucan, and n-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, focusing mainly on anti-30 obesity effects. Overall, it is clear that the level of evidence for the effectiveness varies not only 31 among the different bioactives but also among the different putative health benefits suggested for the 32 same bioactive. Limited evidence may be due to the low number of controlled intervention trials or 33 to inconsistencies in trial design i.e. duration, dose and/or the way of bioactive supplementation 34 (extracts, supplements, rich or enriched food). At present, the question "are bioactives effective in Page 1 of 25 Cambridge University Press Proceedings of the Nutrition Society weight management and prevention of metabolic syndrome?" remains inconclusive. Thus, a common 36 effort to harmonize the study design of intervention trials focusing on the most promising bioactive 37 molecules is urgently needed to strengthen the evidence of their potential in the treatment of obesity, 38 metabolic syndrome and related diseases. 39 40 Key words: anthocyanins, beta-glucan, catechins, n-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, 41 metabolic syndrome 42 43 44 48and exercise too little. Although this is theoretically true, different contributors to energy balance 49 must be considered and need a better understanding. For example, diet composition, nutrient 50 bioavailability and bioactives could have a role in energy balance. 51 The different thermic effects of macronutrients could result in different energy expenditure. For 52 example, higher protein diets have been shown to be more conducive to weight loss than lower protein 53 diets (1) . The Preventing Overweight Using Novel Dietary Strategies (POUNDS LOST) trial examined 54 the role of macronutrients on overall energy expenditure and its components under well-controlled 55 conditions (2) . This randomized trial involving 811 overweight adults evidenced that low energy, 56 isocaloric diets with different macronutrient ratio (fats:proteins:carbohydrates = 20:15:65; 20:25:55; 57 40:15:45 or 40:25:35) were equally successful in promoting weigh...