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The scientific term for this is that they have a high glycemic index and glycemic load. Such foods cause fast and furious increases in blood sugar and insulin that, in the short term, can cause hunger to spike and can lead to overeating-and over the long term, increase the risk of weight gain, diabetes, and heart disease.

For example, in the diet and lifestyle change study, people who increased their consumption of French fries, potatoes and potato chips, sugary drinks, and refined grains gained more weight over time-an extra 3.

The good news is that many of the foods that are beneficial for weight control also help prevent heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic diseases.

Conversely, foods and drinks that contribute to weight gain—chief among them, refined grains and sugary drinks—also contribute to chronic disease. Read more about whole grains on The Nutrition Source. Whole grains-whole wheat, brown rice, barley, and the like, especially in their less-processed forms-are digested more slowly than refined grains.

So they have a gentler effect on blood sugar and insulin, which may help keep hunger at bay. The same is true for most vegetables and fruits. Read more about vegetables and fruits on The Nutrition Source.

The weight control evidence is stronger for whole grains than it is for fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables are also high in water, which may help people feel fuller on fewer calories. Read more about nuts on The Nutrition Source. Nuts pack a lot of calories into a small package and are high in fat, so they were once considered taboo for dieters.

As it turns out, studies find that eating nuts does not lead to weight gain and may instead help with weight control, perhaps because nuts are rich in protein and fiber, both of which may help people feel fuller and less hungry.

Read more about calcium and milk on The Nutrition Source. The U. dairy industry has aggressively promoted the weight-loss benefits of milk and other dairy products, based largely on findings from short-term studies it has funded.

One exception is the recent dietary and lifestyle change study from the Harvard School of Public Health, which found that people who increased their yogurt intake gained less weight; increases in milk and cheese intake, however, did not appear to promote weight loss or gain.

Read more about healthy drinks on The Nutrition Source. Like refined grains and potatoes, sugary beverages are high in rapidly-digested carbohydrate.

See Carbohydrates and Weight , above. These findings on sugary drinks are alarming, given that children and adults are drinking ever-larger quantities of them: In the U. The good news is that studies in children and adults have also shown that cutting back on sugary drinks can lead to weight loss.

Read more on The Nutrition Source about the amount of sugar in soda, fruit juice, sports drinks, and energy drinks, and download the How Sweet Is It?

guide to healthier beverages. Ounce for ounce, fruit juices-even those that are percent fruit juice, with no added sugar- are as high in sugar and calories as sugary sodas. Read more about alcohol on The Nutrition Source. While the recent diet and lifestyle change study found that people who increased their alcohol intake gained more weight over time, the findings varied by type of alcohol.

They eat meals that fall into an overall eating pattern, and researchers have begun exploring whether particular diet or meal patterns help with weight control or contribute to weight gain.

Portion sizes have also increased dramatically over the past three decades, as has consumption of fast food-U. children, for example, consume a greater percentage of calories from fast food than they do from school food 48 -and these trends are also thought to be contributors to the obesity epidemic.

Following a Mediterranean-style diet, well-documented to protect against chronic disease, 53 appears to be promising for weight control, too. The traditional Mediterranean-style diet is higher in fat about 40 percent of calories than the typical American diet 34 percent of calories 54 , but most of the fat comes from olive oil and other plant sources.

The diet is also rich in fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans, and fish. A systematic review found that in most but not all studies, people who followed a Mediterranean-style diet had lower rates of obesity or more weight loss.

There is some evidence that skipping breakfast increases the risk of weight gain and obesity, though the evidence is stronger in children, especially teens, than it is in adults. But there have been conflicting findings on the relationship between meal frequency, snacking, and weight control, and more research is needed.

Since the s, portion sizes have increased both for food eaten at home and for food eaten away from home, in adults and children.

One study, for example, gave moviegoers containers of stale popcorn in either large or medium-sized buckets; people reported that they did not like the taste of the popcorn-and even so, those who received large containers ate about 30 percent more popcorn than those who received medium-sized containers.

People who had higher fast-food-intake levels at the start of the study weighed an average of about 13 pounds more than people who had the lowest fast-food-intake levels. They also had larger waist circumferences and greater increases in triglycercides, and double the odds of developing metabolic syndrome.

Weight gain in adulthood is often gradual, about a pound a year 9 -too slow of a gain for most people to notice, but one that can add up, over time, to a weighty personal and public health problem.

Though the contribution of any one diet change to weight control may be small, together, the changes could add up to a considerable effect, over time and across the whole society. Willett WC, Leibel RL. Dietary fat is not a major determinant of body fat. Am J Med.

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