Want to lose weight? Eat nuts.

Today I read this interesting study:

"Potato chips may be the most dangerous food for your hips, according to a study that lays out weight-associated foods by the pound.

Roughly half of the average 3.35 pounds a healthy, nonobese American gains over four years could be chalked up to eating more potato chips over time (1.69 lb per additional serving per day), Dariush Mozaffarian, MD, DrPH, of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Schools of Medicine and Public Health, and colleagues found.

Other food strongly associated with weight gain in the prospective longitudinal results reported in the June 23 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine included:

• Potatoes at 1.28 lb
• Sugar-sweetened beverages at 1.00 lb
• Unprocessed red meats at 0.95 lb
• Processed meats at 0.93 lb

Four-year weight loss was most associated with intake of:

• Yogurt at -0.82 lb
• Nuts at -0.57 lb
• Fruits at -0.49 lb
• Whole grains at -0.37 lb
• Vegetables at -0.22 lb

All the above values are per serving added per day to the diet over four years and all were significant at P≤0.005."
I'm not surprised by the list of foods associated with weight loss (vegetables, news flash!), but I am surprised at how high yogurt scored. That makes me think that there is a bacterial reason for weight loss - a concept that has been considered by scientists in the past few years. I am surprised that unprocessed red meat landed in the top foods for weight gain. I didn't think anything unprocessed would be in the list - but I suppose it's an example of too much of a good thing. We do eat an enormous amount of red meat - quarter pounder burgers, 16 ounce steaks, pot roast.

Thoughts? Did any of the foods listed here surprise you?

Primary source: New England Journal of Medicine
Source reference:
Mozaffarian D, et al "Changes in diet and lifestyle and long- term weight gain in women and men" N Engl J Med 2011; 364: 2392-2404.