Summary and Conclusions
      Dietary treatment of obesity
      A Systematic Review
     The full report contains tables in English  
     that present included studies
     Swedish Council on Health Technology Assessment
          SBU Board of Directors and 
          Scientific Advisory Committee
          Secretariat
          Måns Rosén 
          Executive Director, SBU
          Board of Directors
          Nina Rehnqvist                 Sven Ohlman                   Håkan Sörman 
          Karolinska Institutet,         National Board of             The Swedish Association  
          Solna (Chair)                  Health and Welfare            of Local Authorities and 
                                                                       Regions
          Peter Friberg                  Jonas Rastad 
          The Swedish Society            Region Skåne                  Mats Ulfendahl 
          of Medicine                                                  The Swedish Research 
                                         Sineva Ribeiro                Council
          Björn Klinge                   The Swedish Association 
          Malmö University               of Health Professionals       Marie Wedin 
                                                                       The Swedish Medical 
                                         Måns Rosén                    Association
                                         SBU
          Scientific Advisory Committee
          Kjell Asplund                  Nils Feltelius                Jörgen Nordenström 
          Professor emeritus (Chair)     The Medical Products          Karolinska University 
                                         Agency, Uppsala               Hospital, Solna
          Kristina 
          Bengtsson Boström              Mats G Hansson                Ulf Näslund 
          Billingens Medical Center,     Uppsala University            Norrland University 
          Skövde                                                       Hospital, Umeå
                                         Sten Landahl 
          Christina Bergh                Sahlgrenska University        Joakim Ramsberg 
          Sahlgrenska University         Hospital, Göteborg            The Swedish Agency for 
          Hospital, Göteborg                                           Health and Care Services 
                                         Margareta Möller              Analysis, Stockholm
          Anna Ehrenberg                 University Hospital,  
          Högskolan Dalarna              Örebro                        Bo Runeson 
                                                                       Karolinska Institutet, Solna
              Summary and Conclusions of the SBU Report:
              Dietary treatment of obesity
              A Systematic Review
              September 2013
              Project Group
              Nina Rehnqvist (Chair)              Jonas Lindblom (Project Director, 
              Kjell Asplund                       Information Specialist)
              Christian Berne                     Staffan Lindeberg
              Katarina Bälter                     Fredrik Nyström
              Thomas Davidson                     Anders Norlund 
              (Health Economist)                  (Health Economist)
              Carl-Erik Flodmark                  Jenny Odeberg 
              Emelie Heintz (Health Economist)    (Assistant Project Director)
              Christel Larsson                    Ewalotte Ränzlöv 
              Ingrid Larsson                      (Project Administrator)
              Scientific Reviewers
              Göran Berglund                      Kerstin Nilsson
              Mai-Lis Hellénius                   Ulf Risérus
              Claude Marcus                       Niklas Zethraeus
              Report: Dietary treatment of obesity (no 218/2013) 
              ISBN: 978-91-85413-59-1 • ISSN: 1400-1403                                        3
               SBU’s conclusions
               The purpose of this report was to systematically collate scientific 
               literature on dietary advice for obese individuals, or the actual food 
               intake among such people. The following conclusions are limited 
               to links between food and weight, morbidity and mor tal ity among 
               obese individuals (defined as people with a BMI of ≥30 kg/m2 or a 
               waist size of ≥102 cm (men) or ≥88 cm (women). Links with other 
               outcomes are described in the introductions to each subsection of 
               this report. SBU has previously discussed diet for individuals with 
               diabetes. The results for obese individuals and individuals with 
               diabetes generally point in the same direction. This report does not 
               evaluate implemention methods for passing on dietary advice. Nor 
               have we reviewed the scientific literature for links between diet and 
               ill-health among the population in general.
               „ Weight loss in adults. A range of advice on alteration of eating 
                  and drinking habits can result in obese individuals losing weight 
                  or reducing their waist size. In the short term (six months), advice 
                  on strict or moderate low carbohydrate diets is a more effective 
                  means of achieving weight loss than advice on low fat diets. In 
                  the long term, there are no differences in the effect on weight loss 
                  between advice on strict and moderate low carbohydrate diets, 
                  low fat diets, high protein diets, Mediterranean diets, diets aimed 
                  at achieving a low glycaemic load or diets containing a high per-
                  centage of monounsaturated fats. Advice on increasing the intake 
                  of dairy products (primarily milk) or reducing the intake of sweet 
                  drinks may also lead to weight loss.
               „ Weight loss in children and young people. Advice on increasing 
                  the intake of dairy products (primarily milk) in the event of 
                  energy restriction may lead to weight loss among obese children 
                  and young people. There is insufficient scientific data to assess 
                  whether other dietary advice which is effective for obese adults 
                  is also effective for people under 18. 
          sbu’s summary and conclusions
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