Very Low-Energy Diets—Opportunity for Greater Weight Loss, but Risk of Bone Loss

Abstract

Eat less, move more. This may seem like the straightforward solution to the increasing obesity epidemic. But it is not as simple as that. Weight loss and maintenance are challenging. 1 Seimon et al 2 aim to provide some much-needed answers to questions regarding the health effects of very low-energy diets (VLEDs) compared with conventional caloric restriction diets. Postmenopausal women with obesity in the Type of Energy Manipulation for Promoting Optimum Metabolic Health and Body Composition in Obesity (TEMPO) Diet Trial 2 were randomized to a 25% to 35% caloric restriction diet for 1 year (moderate intervention) or a VLED (aiming at 65%-75% caloric restriction) for 16 weeks followed by a 25% to 35% caloric restriction diet (severe intervention). Compared with the moderate intervention, the severe intervention resulted in a greater loss of total body weight,