Category: Weight Loss

These popular diets can promote weight loss and boost heart health for a period of time.

Most popular weight loss diets can lead to modest reductions in both weight and cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension, a study has found.

Low carbohydrate diets like Atkins and Zone, macro diets like Mediterranean and DASH, and low fat diets such as the Ornish diet, all support weight reduction to some extent.

Researchers suggest that most weight loss diets will have some short-term weight loss effects up to six months so people should choose what diet suits them most and not to worry that other diets might be better.

The weight loss effect of popular named diets appears to diminish at the 12-month point.

Except for the Mediterranean diet in lowering ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol, the cardiovascular health effects will lessen at 12 months for all popular named diets.

Since 1975, obesity has tripled globally, consequently pushing society to promote any dietary program that can improve heart health or grab any weight loss plan.

Hence the study compares different diets to see their impact on weight loss and cardiovascular risk factors including cholesterol levels and high blood pressure.

The team analysed data from 121 trials with nearly 22,000 overweight or obese adult participants who either followed a usual diet or one of 14 popular diets including Atkins, Portfolio, DASH, Mediterranean, Ornish, Biggest Loser, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Zone, Paleolithic, Slimming World, Rosemary Conley, South Beach, and Volumetrics.

In comparison to a usual diet, low fat and low carbohydrate diets showed a reduction of 4 to 5 kg in weight and a modest drop in blood pressure over six months.

The weight loss and blood pressure lowering effect was slightly less for the macro diets group.

People in the Zone, Atkins and DASH group lost between 3.5 and 5.5 kg, suggesting these diets had the largest weight loss effect and greatest impact on lowering blood pressure.

The LDL cholesterol reduction was at the highest for the Mediterranean diet, while dietary advice, Ornish, Biggest Loser, DASH, and a low fat diet were no better than a usual diet in lowering ‘bad’ cholesterol.

The authors wrote:

“The extensive range of popular diets analysed, provides a plethora of choice but no clear winner.”

They advise that we need to focus on how to maintain weight loss instead of discussing what dietary pattern is best.

Unfortunately, most people take no notice of national dietary guidelines that encourage the public to drink less alcohol and soft drinks, reduce salt and sugar intakes, and eat more whole grains, vegetables, and legumes.

The authors concluded:

“If we are to change the weight trajectory of whole populations, we may learn more from understanding how commercial diet companies engage and retain their customers, and translate that knowledge into more effective health promotion campaigns.”

The study was published in the BMJ (Ge et al., 2020).

Those who experience this after their meals feel hungrier and consume more calories than others.

People whose blood sugar level drop too low after their meals experience nearly a 10 percent rise in hunger compared to those whose blood sugar dips less, a study suggests.

Big dippers are more likely to feel hungry two or three hours after a meal and eat hundreds of extra calories each day.

Scientist think personal metabolism is the reason why some people keep putting weight on, even if they go on a controlled diet.

A nutritional research team collected data on blood sugar levels and other health markers of 1,070 adults after their standardized breakfasts.

Participants had muffins for breakfast, which contained the same calories but were different in make-up regarding fat, carbohydrates, protein, and fibre.

They also had an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) to check how well the body responds to sugar.

During the two week study period, subjects’ blood sugar levels were measured by continuous glucose monitors (CGM).

How many times they were hungry, what and when they ate through the day were all recorded on an app.

The team noticed that some participants experienced glucose dips two to four hours after their meal (mild hypoglycemia).

The results suggest that those with big dips in blood sugar levels, despite having the same meals as little dippers, saw a nine percent increase in appetite and ate their next meal half an hour earlier than the others.

Also compared to little dippers, big dippers consumed 75 more calories a few hours after their breakfast and 312 more calories throughout the day.

Consuming these amounts of calories would eventually cause people to put on 20 pound (9 kg) in a year.

Professor Ana Valdes, the study’s leader said:

“Many people struggle to lose weight and keep it off, and just a few hundred extra calories every day can add up to several pounds of weight gain over a year.

Our discovery that the size of sugar dips after eating has such a big impact on hunger and appetite has great potential for helping people understand and control their weight and long-term health.”

In this study, men experienced slightly bigger dips than women.

Everybody experienced some day-to-day variability in the dip sizes, even after having the same meals, suggesting differences in metabolism, gut flora and, activity levels are the key parameters.

Therefore, eating the right foods helps each individual’s unique biology to feel satiated longer and eat fewer calories.

Professor Tim Spector, study co-author, said:

 “Food is complex and humans are complicated, but our research is finally starting to open up the black box between diet and health.

We’re excited to have been able to turn this cutting-edge science into an at-home nutrition and microbiome test so that everyone has the opportunity to discover their unique responses to food to best support their metabolism and gut health.”

The study was published in the journal Nature Metabolism (Wyatt et al., 2021).

Weight loss can be aided by a number of vitamins and supplements, research finds.

A number of vitamins and supplements are linked to weight loss, according to research.

Vitamin D3 supplements can aid weight loss, a new review of 10 studies has found.

People in the studies took around 1,000 IU up to 20,000 IU per day.

Compared to control groups, people taking vitamin D3 had reduced body mass indexes and trimmer waists.

One study has even shown that taking 2000 IU can increase weight loss by 50 percent.

People who are overweight or obese frequently have a deficiency in vitamin D3, also known as cholecalciferol.

The research was a review of 11 separate studies including almost 1,000 overweight and obese people in total.

All were taking various amounts of vitamin D3 supplementation to help with weight loss.

Professor Simone Perna, the study’s author, explained the studies results:

“The systematic review and meta-analysis of 11 RCTs with more than 900 subjects lasting between 1 to 12 months after cholecalciferol [vitamin 3] supplementation (from 25,000 to 600,000 IU monthly), revealed that cholecalciferol has a desirable effect on weight loss by reducing BMI and waist circumference in overweight and obese individuals.”

A number of mechanisms could be involved in vitamin D3 aiding weight loss.

It may help to suppress fat accumulation, Professor Perna writes:

“Cholecalciferol [vitamin D3] has a direct role in suppressing the PTH hormone, which promotes and triggers fat accumulation in the adipose tissue via increasing intracellular calcium.”

Increasing calcium intake is also thought to help with weight loss, said Professor Perna:

“Some studies showed that taking Ca supplements in addition to cholecalciferol increased the inverse relationship and decreased the fat mass that was attributed to calcium metabolism.

It is believed that a calcium-rich diet increases fat oxidation, promotes fat cell apoptosis and decreases lipid absorption through the process of insoluble calcium-fatty acid soap formation in the intestine.”

The study was published in the journal Medicina (Perna et al., 2019).

Weight loss can be aided by a number of vitamins and supplements, research finds.

A number of vitamins and supplements are linked to weight loss, according to research.

Vitamin D3 supplements can aid weight loss, a new review of 10 studies has found.

People in the studies took around 1,000 IU up to 20,000 IU per day.

Compared to control groups, people taking vitamin D3 had reduced body mass indexes and trimmer waists.

One study has even shown that taking 2000 IU can increase weight loss by 50 percent.

People who are overweight or obese frequently have a deficiency in vitamin D3, also known as cholecalciferol.

The research was a review of 11 separate studies including almost 1,000 overweight and obese people in total.

All were taking various amounts of vitamin D3 supplementation to help with weight loss.

Professor Simone Perna, the study’s author, explained the studies results:

“The systematic review and meta-analysis of 11 RCTs with more than 900 subjects lasting between 1 to 12 months after cholecalciferol [vitamin 3] supplementation (from 25,000 to 600,000 IU monthly), revealed that cholecalciferol has a desirable effect on weight loss by reducing BMI and waist circumference in overweight and obese individuals.”

A number of mechanisms could be involved in vitamin D3 aiding weight loss.

It may help to suppress fat accumulation, Professor Perna writes:

“Cholecalciferol [vitamin D3] has a direct role in suppressing the PTH hormone, which promotes and triggers fat accumulation in the adipose tissue via increasing intracellular calcium.”

Increasing calcium intake is also thought to help with weight loss, said Professor Perna:

“Some studies showed that taking Ca supplements in addition to cholecalciferol increased the inverse relationship and decreased the fat mass that was attributed to calcium metabolism.

It is believed that a calcium-rich diet increases fat oxidation, promotes fat cell apoptosis and decreases lipid absorption through the process of insoluble calcium-fatty acid soap formation in the intestine.”

The study was published in the journal Medicina (Perna et al., 2019).

The study showed that the supplements led to significantly increased weight loss.

Taking probiotics can increase weight loss over 12 weeks, research finds.

Those in the study who took probiotics achieved significantly more weight loss than a control group.

Probiotics are live microorganisms that have multiple health benefits.

The probiotics taken in the study, including Bifidobacterium longum, also helped to restore diversity in the gut bacteria.

Studies have found that probiotics can aid weight loss in adults and children.

Professor Rui-Min Chen, the study’s first author, said:

“Our findings suggest that probiotic supplementation may help with weight loss and improve metabolic health in obese children, and that this may be an effective strategy for the prevention and treatment of obesity in the future.”

The study included 54 children aged 6-14 years-old.

All the children were put on a diet and exercise regime, but only half were given probiotic supplements.

The supplement included a cocktail of three probiotics: Bifidobacterium longum, Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus.

The results showed that the supplements led to significantly increased weight loss.

Probiotics also improved markers of metabolic health, such as lipid levels, blood glucose and insulin levels.

Dr Harriët Schellekens, a neuroscientist who was not involved in the study, said:

“This study delivers important evidence that probiotic supplementation can indeed be useful in the fight against obesity.

It is very promising that only 12 weeks of supplementation of the probiotic cocktail was able to reduce Body Mass Index (BMI) and also led to the improvement of other metabolic markers of obesity, including a reduction in fasting glucose levels.

This reinforces the concept of the link between the gut microbiome and metabolic disease, which is a growing area of obesity research.”

There is still reason to be cautious, though, said Professor Chen:

“Other studies have also reported no benefits from probiotic treatment in obese children but these were much shorter in duration.”

The study was presented at the 58th Annual European Society for Paediatric Endocrinology Meeting in Vienna, Austria (Chen et al., 2019).

Four common foods linked to weight loss.

Making relatively small changes to the dietary balance of foods can lead to dramatic weight loss, research finds.

Four foods that are strongly linked to weight loss are seafood, yogurt, skinless chicken and nuts.

In contrast, processed meats and red meats are the foods most strongly linked to weight gain.

Dr Jessica Smith, the study’s first author, said:

“There is mounting scientific evidence that diets including less low-quality carbohydrates, such as white breads, potatoes, and sweets, and higher in protein-rich foods may be more efficient for weight loss.

We wanted to know how that might apply to preventing weight gain in the first place.”

The study included data from three studies which followed over 120,000 people across 16 years.

The results showed that for avoiding weight gain, low-glycaemic load diets were the best.

Foods to avoid include refined grains, sugars and starches, which are all linked to blood pressure spikes and the development of type 2 diabetes.

Low-fat dairy was not linked to weight loss, Dr Smith said:

“The fat content of dairy products did not seem to be important for weight gain.

In fact, when people consumed more low-fat dairy products, they actually increased their consumption of carbs, which may promote weight gain.

This suggests that people compensate, over years, for the lower calories in low-fat dairy by increasing their carb intake.”

Dr Dariush Mozaffarian, study co-author, said:

“Our study adds to growing new research that counting calories is not the most effective strategy for long-term weight management and prevention.

Some foods help prevent weight gain, others make it worse. Most interestingly, the combination of foods seems to make a big difference.

Our findings suggest we should not only emphasize specific protein-rich foods like fish, nuts, and yogurt to prevent weight gain, but also focus on avoiding refined grains, starches, and sugars in order to maximize the benefits of these healthful protein-rich foods, create new benefits for other foods like eggs and cheese, and reduce the weight gain associated with meats.”

The study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Smith et al., 2019).

A glass or two each day can help to boost weight loss by 100 percent.

Drinking milk can help increase weight loss, multiple studies find.

A glass or two of milk each day could increase weight loss by 100 percent, one study has found.

Milk can double fat loss in comparison to both soy milk and a carbohydrate drink, another study has found.

It is thought that both the vitamin D and calcium in milk may be beneficial for weight loss.

Around 50 percent of obese people have a calcium deficiency and half of the general population are deficient in vitamin D.

Now, a new study finds that children drinking whole-fat milk have a 40 percent reduced chance of being obese.

The researchers reviewed 29 separate studies carried out in seven countries, including almost 21,000 children.

Of these, 18 of the studies suggested that children drinking whole milk every day were less likely to be obese or overweight.

The findings are in contrast to many international guidelines that children should drink low-fat milk to avoid weight gain.

Dr Jonathon Maguire, study co-author, said:

“The majority of children in Canada and the United States consume cow’s milk on a daily basis and it is a major contributor of dietary fat for many children.

In our review, children following the current recommendation of switching to reduced-fat milk at age two were not leaner than those consuming whole milk.”

The next step in the research is to establish cause and effect, said Dr Maguire:

“All of the studies we examined were observational studies, meaning that we cannot be sure if whole milk caused the lower risk of overweight or obesity.

Whole milk may have been related to other factors which lowered the risk of overweight or obesity.

A randomized controlled trial would help to establish cause and effect but none were found in the literature.”

None of the studies reviewed suggested that drinking reduced fat milk decreased the risk of obesity or being overweight.

The study was published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Vanderhout et al., 2019).

The drink helps to regulate glucose levels.

Green tea can be an effective way to increase weight loss, studies find.

Drinking between two to four cups per day has been linked to weight loss in multiple studies.

Similarly, black tea has also been linked to increased weight loss.

People in the studies sometimes lose weight without making any other dietary or lifestyle changes, apart from drinking tea.

Green tea may be effective because it helps to regulate glucose levels.

The active ingredient is a type of flavonoid called gallated catechins, also known as EGCG.

However, catechins can be damaged by boiling water, so let the water cool a little before adding it to the tea.

Alternatively, EGCG can be bought as a food supplement, which provides a more concentrated hit of the antioxidant.

Drinking green tea itself may be better than green tea supplements because of the way the body metabolises critical catechins in tea.

One potential disadvantage of green tea is that it can increase insulin resistance, which can be a problem for people with diabetes or who are obese.

One study gave mice green tea extract along with a non-toxic resin designed to counteract this side-effect of green tea.

The study used both diabetic and non-diabetic mice who were fed either a normal or high-fat diet.

The results showed that the green tea extract stopped mice gaining weight when they were on a high-fat diet.

The study’s authors write:

“Dietary green tea extract and polyethylene glycol alleviated body weight gain and insulin resistance in diabetic and high-fat mice, thus ameliorating glucose intolerance.

Therefore the green tea extract and polyethylene glycol complex may be a preventative and therapeutic tool for obesity and obesity-related type 2 diabetes without too much concern about side effects.”

The study was published in Naunyn-Schmiedeberg’s Archives of Pharmacology (Park et al., 2013).

Around 40 percent of the world’s population is overweight.

Depression is one of the biggest barriers to weight loss, new research finds.

Carrying an extra 20 pounds in weight increases the risk of depression by 17 percent, the study found.

The more fat someone carries, the greater the chance they will experience depression.

In this case, depression is driven by low self-esteem and a poor body image.

Since depression involves a loss of motivation and disinterest in life, it makes it much harder for overweight people who are depressed to lose weight.

Dr Søren Dinesen Østergaard, study co-author, said:

“Our study also indicated that the location of the fat on the body makes no difference to the risk of depression.

This suggests that it is the psychological consequences of being overweight or obese which lead to the increased risk of depression, and not the direct biological effect of the fat.”

The conclusions come from an analysis of over three-quarters of a million people, sourced partly from the UK biobank.

The biobank is a long-term project that tracks the health and well-being of volunteers in the UK.

The results suggest that it is obesity that leads to depression, Dr Østergaard said:

“As it appears to be the psychological consequences of obesity, such as a negative body image and low self-esteem that is the main driving force behind the increased risk of depression, society’s efforts to combat obesity must not stigmatise, as this will probably increase the risk of depression even further.

It is important to bear this in mind so we can avoid doing more harm than good in the effort to curb the obesity epidemic.”

Around 40 percent of the world’s population is overweight, Dr Østergaard said.

The study was published in the journal Translational Psychiatry (Speed et al., 2019).