NEW YORK (Reuters Health) ¿ Creating personalised diets, based on an individual's genetic makeup, helps overweight individuals lose weight and keep it off, the results of a new study suggest.

In a review of patient records, the researchers found that people who went on "nutrigenetically tailored diets" were more apt to stick to the diet, and had greater success in the long term.

"This study proves that a personalised diet based on genetics leads to significant advances in long-term weight management," said Dr. Rosalynn D. Gill, chief science officer with Sciona Inc., the Boulder, Colorado-based company that partially funded the study and makes the testing system used to develop a person's nutrigenetic diet.

The "MyCellf Kit" (www.Mycellf.com) uses cheek cells obtained by swab brush to screen DNA for 24 variations in 19 genes known to affect nutrient metabolism.

Gill and colleagues compared the case histories of 50 "nutrigenetic" dieters with those of 43 patients who did not receive a nutrigenetically tailored diet. All of the patients were attending a weight loss clinic in Athens, Greece, and all followed a traditional weight management program involving a Mediterranean diet, coupled with exercise and regular follow-up clinic visits. The diet of the nutrigenetic group, however, was modified from the standard Mediterranean diet based on the genetic results of each subject.

In the first few months, both groups lost a similar amount of weight, the researchers report in the online journal BioMed Central: Nutrition Journal.

However, after about one year, the traditional diet group showed a slight average weight gain while the nutrigenetic dieters continued to lose weight.

After 300 days, the nutrigenetic dieters were roughly five-times more likely to have maintained their weight loss than were the traditional dieters.