NUTRITIONAL IMPLICATIONS OF REDUCED-FAT FOOD USE BY FREE-LIVING CONSUMERS

The nutritional implications of the purchase and consumption of reduce d-fat foods at home were assessed in normal-weight, free-living consum ers in a 6-week intervention study. Control (n = 14) and experimental (n = 15) subjects kept 4-day weighed food diaries to establish energy and macronutrient intake at baseline and experimental weeks 2, 4 and 6 . The control group continued their habitual diet throughout the study whereas the experimental group used reduced-fat foods ad libitum in p lace of the traditionally high-fat counterparts that they usually cons umed. All subjects purchased the majority of their groceries from the same food store and were reimbursed for a proportion of their grocery bill. Repeated-measures analysis of variance indicated that the experi mental group, compared to the control group, significantly reduced the ir percentage of energy from fat (from 38.3 +/- 1.8 to 30.4 +/- 1.7), but increased the percentage of energy from protein (p = 0.06) and car bohydrate (p = 0.019) such that changes in total energy intake were no t statistically significantly different between conditions. Neverthele ss, the experimental group lost 1.1 kg (while the control group gained 0.4 kg) in the first 4 weeks of the study, consistent with the observ ed reduction in energy intake, though no further body weight changes w ere seen in week 6. This study suggests that although use of reduced-f at foods may have short-term effects on energy balance, long-term sust ained reduction in energy intake may be limited if this dietary strate gy is used in isolation. (C) 1995 Academic Press Limited