A High-Carbohydrate, High-Fiber, Low-Fat Diet Results in Weight Loss among Adults at High Risk of Type 2 Diabetes

Background: Weight loss is a key factor in reducing diabetes risk. The Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) is a completed clinical trial that randomly assigned individuals at high risk of diabetes to a placebo (PLBO), metformin (MET), or intensive lifestyle intervention (ILS) group, which included physical activity (PA) and reduced dietary fat intake.Objective: We aimed to evaluate the associations between diet and weight at baseline and to identify specific dietary factors that predicted weight loss among DPP participants.Methods: Diet was assessed by a food frequency questionnaire. The associations between intakes of macronutrients and various food groups and body weight among DPP participants at baseline were assessed by linear regression, adjusted for race/ethnicity, age, sex, calorie intake, and PA. Models that predicted weight loss at year 1 were adjusted for baseline weight, change in calorie intake, and change in PA and stratified by treatment allocation (MET, ILS, and PLBO). All results are presented as estimates +/- SEs.Results: A total of 3234 participants were enrolled in the DPP; 2924 had completed dietary data (67.5% women; mean age: 50.6 +/- 10.7 y). Adjusted for calorie intake, baseline weight was negatively associated with carbohydrate intake (-1.14 +/- 0.18 kg body weight/100 kcal carbohydrate, P