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Recommendations Summary

Pediatric Weight Management (PWM) Very Low Fat Diet (Less than 20% Daily Energy Intake from Fat)

Click here to see the explanation of recommendation ratings (Strong, Fair, Weak, Consensus, Insufficient Evidence) and labels (Imperative or Conditional). To see more detail on the evidence from which the following recommendations were drawn, use the hyperlinks in the Supporting Evidence Section below.

• Recommendation(s)

  PWM: Very Low Fat Diet

  Use of a very-low-fat diet (less than 20% of total daily energy) is not recommended for use in pediatric weight management. The efficacy of a very-low-fat diet, defined as less than 20% of total daily energy intake from fat in the treatment of pediatric obesity, has not been studied.

  Rating: Insufficient Evidence
  Imperative

  • Risks/Harms of Implementing This Recommendation

    None.

  • Conditions of Application

    None.

  • Potential Costs Associated with Application

    None.

  • Recommendation Narrative

    There are no studies in the pediatric population that used a very-low-fat diet, as defined above, as the dietary intervention for the treatment of pediatric obesity. Some trials used a modified-fat hypocaloric diet, based on the NCEP Step I Diet recommendations (Ebbeling CB, Leidig MM et al, 2003 and Spieth L, Harnish J et al, 2000) as the control dietary intervention, but the percentage of total calories from fat exceeded 20%.

  • Recommendation Strength Rationale

    Conclusion statement was a Grade V.

    There was no evidence focusing specifically on the use of a very-low-fat diet for the treatment of pediatric obesity and so there is no evidence to support using very-low-fat diets for treatment of pediatric obesity.

  • Minority Opinions

    None.

• Supporting Evidence

  The recommendations were created from the evidence analysis on the following questions. To see detail of the evidence analysis, click the blue hyperlinks below (recommendations rated consensus will not have supporting evidence linked).

  What is the evidence to support using a low fat diet (<20% of total daily energy intake) as a means to treat pediatric obesity?

  • References

    Ebbeling CB, Leidig MM, Sinclair KB, Hangen JP, and Ludwig DS. A Reduced–Glycemic Load Diet in the Treatment of Adolescent Obesity. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2003;157:773-779.
    
    Spieth L, Harnish J, Lenders C, Raezer L, Pereira M, Hangen SJ, Ludwig D. A Low-Glycemic Index Diet in the Treatment of Pediatric Obesity Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2000;154:947-951

  • References not graded in Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Evidence Analysis Process

    None.