Could it be that low-glycemic diets are just hype? A recent study claims that low-glycemic diets are no more effective than diets which restrict calories.

Researchers from Boston studied 34 overweight people for one year and came to a rather controversial conclusion: When it comes to weight loss, calories – not carbohydrates – matter most.

In this study, half of the participants were put on a low-glycemic diet and the other half followed a high-glycemic diet. Both diets reduced calories by 30 percent, limited fat, and focused on eating high-fiber foods. At the end of the study, the low-glycemic dieters lost about 8 percent of their weight, but so did the high-glycemic dieters.

While it is true that it is easier to count calories than trying to figure out a glycemic index of foods, I think low-glycemic diets are still useful.

Important note: Low-glycemic diets are often confused with low-carb diets, but they are not the same. As far as I am concerned, low-carb diets have been proven to help people lose weight and they are easy to follow. [source: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, BHG]