Diet & Nutrition
Evidence-based reviews of dietary approaches. All weight loss figures are from randomised controlled trials.
Quick read · 2 min
- •A caloric deficit is the foundation — all diets that produce weight loss do so by creating one
- •Which diet you can actually stick to matters more than which one is theoretically optimal
- •High protein diets help preserve muscle during weight loss — important when on GLP-1 drugs too
Based on clinical trials · No rankings · Every claim linked to source
Last reviewed: March 2026
Caloric deficit
The established foundation: why a caloric deficit produces weight loss, optimal deficit size, and why adherence is the critical variable.
High protein diet
Trial evidence showing high-protein diets produce greater fat loss and preserve more lean mass during caloric restriction.
Low-carb vs low-fat
What randomised trials show when the two approaches are compared directly — and what the data actually says about macros.
Intermittent fasting
Time-restricted eating and alternate-day fasting compared to continuous caloric restriction in randomised trials.
Ultra-processed food
The first RCT to show ultra-processed food directly causes overconsumption — a landmark 2019 NIH study with striking results.
A note on diet trials
Diet research is hard to conduct — participants can't be blinded to what they eat. Long-term results depend more on adherence than which diet people follow.