“But they’re short-term studies for a reason,” he said. “Countless studies show that these sorts of really low-calorie, restricted diets are just very, very difficult to adhere to.”
The effectiveness of meal replacement diets can also depend on the patient, said Sue Decotiis, MD, a medical weight loss doctor in New York City.
“If a patient has a very unhealthy lifestyle and they’re eating poorly – lots of processed, low-fiber foods and not a lot of vegetables – then [meal replacement products] can be helpful because you’re kind of reining in their food intake,” Decotiis said. “But for someone that knows how to eat well, and perhaps they just have a slow metabolism, then I don’t think that I would start someone on meal replacements because they are used to eating healthy food.”
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