[QUOTE=chicachyna]They found that low-carb diets were consistently better at helping patients lose weight than low-fat diets; the participants on the low-carb diets lost 2.5 pounds more than those on low-fat diets, with the average weight loss among all groups at about six pounds.


In mostly English speaking Ontario, we have mandatory French classes. Mostly, the kids don't learn to speak French, which is a shame. You can't really judge the effectiveness of the language as a communication tool by that. One problem with all of these studies is that the effectiveness of the teacher/teaching method can have a profound effect on results, if a method works, it won't be well tested unless you can convince people to actually apply it.

Also, people playing the home game, whether it's McDougall's starch solution or Atkins, are already sort of invested and probably have some reason to believe that the diet could work for them, or they wouldn't be trying it in the first place, that sort of investment might be lacking when people are randomly assigned to a diet group, believing something will actually work if you apply it properly is major motivation for compliance.