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A new study offers welcome news for the millions of Americans who are fighting the battle of the bulge. Eating a diet containing moderate levels of fat - as opposed to a strict low-fat diet - is easier on dieters' taste buds and may result in more long-term weight loss.

In the study, 31 subjects consumed a moderate-fat diet and 30 others consumed a low-fat diet. While subjects in both groups experienced roughly the same amount of weight loss after six months, the real difference came at the end of the study, which was12 months later.

Subjects who ate the moderate-fat diet lost an average of about nine pounds, while those on the low-fat diet not only gained back the weight they originally lost, but weighed about six pounds more than they did at the start of the study.

After 18 months, 54 percent of the subjects originally recruited to the moderate-fat diet group were still actively participating in the study compared to only 20 percent of those in the low-fat diet group. Those consuming the moderate-fat diet were then followed for an additional year and lost a total of 7.7 pounds over the entire study period.

Subjects consuming a moderate-fat diet said the diet was tastier than the low-fat regimens that they had tried. This may have been the cause of their increased group participation compared with those who ate a low-fat diet, the authors suggested.

According to the International Journal of Obesity (2001;25:1503-1511), a moderate-fat diet is similar to the diets of people living in the Mediterranean. Compared with low-fat diets, it contains more peanut butter, nuts and so-called healthy oils like olive, peanut and canola.