Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.
About Diets
If you are overweight or have obesity, losing weight can improve your health. It might also help you prevent weight-related diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, arthritis and some cancers. A healthy diet is an important part of a weight-loss program. It:
- May include fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products
- May include lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, eggs and nuts
- Goes easy on saturated fats, trans fat, cholesterol, salt (sodium), and added sugars
The key to losing weight is to burn more calories than you eat and drink. A diet can help you to do this through portion control. There are many different types of diets. Some, like the Mediterranean diet, describe a traditional way of eating from a specific region. Others, like the DASH eating plan or a diet to lower cholesterol, were designed for people who have certain health problems. But they may also help you to lose weight. There are also fad or crash diets that severely restrict calories or the types of food you are allowed to eat. They may sound promising, but they rarely lead to permanent weight loss. They also may not provide all of the nutrients your body needs.
In addition to a diet, adding exercise into your daily life can help you to lose weight.
It sits within Food and Nutrition and Wellness and Lifestyle.
When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.
Research on Diets
8,903 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.
What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.
Research currently under way
- Sensory Stimulation as a Driver of Diet-induced ThermogenesisUniversity Hospital, Basel, Switzerland
- FAST for DM - Fatty Acid Supplementation Trial (FAST) for Dermatomyositis (DM)National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
- Protease Regulation and Impact of Sodium as Mechanisms of Inflammation in IBDMcMaster University
- Ripe for Revival: Outcomes Evaluation of a Mobile Produce Market With VouchersNorth Carolina State University
- Parkinson's Research In Metagenomic Early Stage BiomarkersIRCCS San Raffaele Roma
- Anti Inflammatory Diet With Physical Therapy on PsoriasisMahmoud Usama Mahmoud Ahmed
Research already completed
- Dose-response Effects of Dietary Nitrate on Running Time-to-exhaustion and Neuromuscular Fatigue: a Randomized Crossover Exploratory Pilot StudyUniversidad Autonoma de Madrid
- Dietary Salt in Rheumatoid ArthritisVanderbilt University Medical Center
- Effects of Immulina TM Supplements With PASC PatientsUniversity of Mississippi Medical Center
- Metabolism and Absorption of Anthocyanins From Extract and Whole Blueberry Powder Confections in Healthy AdultsOhio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center
- Spirulina Oral Supplement for Enhancing Host Resilience to Virus InfectionUniversity of Mississippi Medical Center
- Identification of Surrogate Blood and/or Urine Biomarker for Immulina TM (Trademark) in Normal HumansUniversity of Mississippi Medical Center
Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.
Where to read more
Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.
Start Here
- Healthy RecipesNational Library of Medicine
- Some Myths about Nutrition and Physical ActivityNational Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
- Weight Loss: Choosing a Diet That's Right for YouMayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
Living With
- Healthy Recipes: Low-fatNational Library of Medicine
Related Issues
- Dejunking Your Diet: The Drawbacks of Ultra-Processed FoodsNational Institutes of Health
- Dieting and GallstonesNational Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
- Food Portions: Choosing Just Enough for YouNational Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
- How to Handle Food CravingsAcademy of Nutrition and Dietetics
- Nutrition and Healthy EatingMayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
- Truth Behind Weight Loss AdsFederal Trade Commission
Clinical Trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Diet, ReducingNational Institutes of Health
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Weight LossNational Institutes of Health
Medical subject headings
Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Diet, Reducing. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.
This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Diets, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.