When it comes to losing weight, it seems people have been duped by marketing. What matters most if you want to shed some pounds is not some fad diet, researchers now tell us, but simply eating less food. Cutting saturated fats and adding whole grains, fruits, and veggies really helps, too. Do it for a lifetime.

That’s the conclusion of a new medical study representing the “longest, largest, and most rigorous test of several popular diet strategies,” writes The Los Angeles Times. As Dr. Robert Eckel, a physiology professor at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and past president of the American Heart Association says, “This study is saying it doesn’t make any difference what diet you choose. Calories have always been the bottom line.”

Next thing researchers will be telling us is that regular exercise does a body good. Go figure.