Category: Weight Loss

This food makes people eat less because they feel fuller.

A handful of nuts each day can reduce weight gain and can increase weight loss, a study finds.

A half ounce of nuts, instead of snacks that are unhealthy, like French Fries or potato chips, can help to reduce off weight gain.

US adults put on 1lb of weight each year, on average, so stopping this slow increase is central to fighting obesity.

Dr Xiaoran Liu, the study’s first author, said:

“People often see nuts as food items high in fat and calories, so they hesitate to consider them as healthy snacks, but they are in fact associated with less weight gain and wellness.”

The study included 51,529 people who were tracked over 20 years or more.

People put on an average of 0.71lbs each year, the results showed.

However, eating more nuts lead to less weight gain and also a lower risk of becoming obese.

A half-serving of nuts each day reduced the risk of becoming obese by 23 percent.

Dr Liu says that prevention is better than cure:

“Once people reach adulthood, they start to gradually gain about one pound a year of weight, which seems small.

But if you consider gaining one pound over 20 years, it accumulates to a lot of weight gain.

Adding one ounce of nuts to your diet in place of less healthy foods — such as red or processed meat, French fries or sugary snacks — may help prevent that slow, gradual weight gain after you enter adulthood and reduce the risk of obesity-related cardiovascular diseases.”

Nuts make people feel fuller because of their high fibre content.

Nut fibres also bind to fats in the gut, which means more calories are excreted.

The study’s authors write:

“In addition to the impact on human health, using environmentally friendly plant-based protein, such as nuts and seeds to replace animal sources of protein may contribute to the promotion of a global sustainable food system.”

The study was published in the journal BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health (Liu et al., 2019).

Weight loss: the breakfast that burns 100% more calories.

Eating a large breakfast can lead to burning twice as many calories, new research finds.

People in the study who ate a large breakfast burned it off more than twice as fast as those who ate a large dinner.

The reason is that the metabolism runs faster earlier in the day, helping calories to be used quicker.

In the evening, though, calories are not burned as quickly so they tend to be stored as fat.

Having a small breakfast also leads to people having a larger appetite, specifically for sweet foods.

Dr Juliane Richter, study co-author, said:

“Our results show that a meal eaten for breakfast, regardless of the amount of calories it contains, creates twice as high diet-induced thermogenesis as the same meal consumed for dinner.

This finding is significant for all people as it underlines the value of eating enough at breakfast.”

The study included 16 men who ate a low-calorie breakfast and high-calorie dinner one day and then the other way around the next day.

The results showed that study participants burned off the calories in a large breakfast 2.5 times faster than a large dinner.

Blood sugar and insulin spikes after eating were also diminished post-breakfast compared with dinner.

Dr Richter concluded:

“We recommend that patients with obesity as well as healthy people eat a large breakfast rather than a large dinner to reduce body weight and prevent metabolic diseases.”

A range of studies have begun to show the benefits for weight loss of eating more at breakfast.

One study has shown that eating a high-calorie breakfast can double weight loss.

Even having a desert at breakfast, such as a cookie or piece of chocolate cake, was linked to lower levels of insulin later on and healthier triglyceride levels in that study.

The study was published in the journal Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (Oltmanns et al., 2020).

One-in-five women report using weight loss supplements in the previous year.

There are three herbal supplements that lead to weight loss without making other changes to diet and exercise, according to a global review of 19 years of research.

These are green tea, white kidney bean extract and ephedra.

Only white kidney bean extract, though, has an effect on its own, researchers found.

To have an effect, green tea and ephedra were given to people trying to lose weight in combined preparations.

Dr Nick Fuller, study co-author, said:

“The problem with supplements is that unlike pharmaceutical drugs, clinical evidence is not required before they are made available to the public in supermarkets or chemists.”

The research reviewed 54 randomised controlled trials including over 4,000 people.

Each compared various herbal medicines with a placebo control group.

People in the studies made no other changes to diet and exercise, other than taking the supplement.

While the results showed that green tea, white kidney bean extract and ephedra had an effect, the amount of weight loss, on average, is relatively low.

People in the studies lost less than five pounds compared to those taking a placebo.

Dr Fuller said:

“This finding suggests there is insufficient evidence to recommend any of these herbal medicines for the treatment of weight loss.

Furthermore, many studies had poor research methods or reporting and even though most supplements appear safe for short-term consumption, they are expensive and are not going to provide a weight loss that is clinically meaningful.”

Around 16 percent of people report that they have used a weight loss supplement in the last year: 12 percent of men and 19 percent of women.

Common herbal supplements for weight loss include African mango and garcinia cambogia.

However, despite being safe, many of them have little or no effect, as this study underlines.

Those that do have an effect are only linked to small amounts of weight loss.

Dr Fuller said:

“The growth in the industry and popularity of these products highlights the importance of conducting more robust studies on the effectiveness and safety of these supplements for weight loss.”

The study was published in the journal Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism (Maunder et al., 2020).

The food lowers cravings for high-sugar and high-fat foods and suppresses appetite during the day.

Eating two eggs for breakfast can increase weight loss by 65 percent, a study finds.

When combined with a reduced-calorie diet, eggs help people lose weight when compared to another breakfast with a similar number of calories.

People in the study who ate eggs for breakfast reduced their BMI by 61 percent more than a comparison group.

They also reported having more energy.

Having a breakfast high in protein lowers cravings for high-sugar and high-fat foods and suppresses appetite during the day, other studies have shown.

Eating more calories in the morning and less in the evening can double weight loss, studies have found.

Dr Nikhil V. Dhurandhar, study co-author, said:

“People have a hard time adhering to diets and our research shows that choosing eggs for breakfast can dramatically improve the success of a weight loss plan.

Apparently, the increased satiety and energy due to eggs helps people better comply with a reduced-calorie diet.”

For the study, 152 overweight or obese people were split into a number of groups, with some going on an egg breakfast diet and others on a bagel breakfast diet.

Despite everyone in the study eating the same amount of calories, those eating eggs for breakfast lost 65 percent more weight than those eating bagels for breakfast.

Eggs did not increase cholesterol levels or change triglycerides, suggesting they are healthy.

Jackie Newgent, a nutritionist, said:

“Eggs are a good source of all-natural, high-quality protein, so they can help keep you satisfied longer, making it easier to resist tempting snacks.

Nearly half of an egg’s protein, and many of the other nutrients, are found in the yolk, so make sure to eat the whole egg for maximum benefits.”

The study was published in the International Journal of Obesity (Vander Wal et al., 2008).

Eating late is dangerous as it imbalances fat burning and metabolic hormones, leading to weight gain and heart disease.

Having a large meal for breakfast that is rich in protein and carbs is linked to weight loss, research finds.

Indeed, studies suggest that it may quadruple weight loss in the long-term.

Now a study has shown that eating more calories later has many metabolic consequences, such as preventing fat loss, increasing triglycerides and low-density lipoproteins (LDL) cholesterol, which are biomarkers of cardiovascular disease risk.

Eating later also negatively effects the hormone ghrelin, which is responsible for feelings of hunger and the satiety hormone leptin, which is responsible for feeling full or satiated after eating.

Moreover, it elevates the hormone insulin and so blood glucose levels, which can lead to weight gain and diabetes.

Dr Namni Goel, the study’s lead author, said:

“Eating later can promote a negative profile of weight, energy, and hormone markers — such as higher glucose and insulin, which are implicated in diabetes, and cholesterol and triglycerides, which are linked with cardiovascular problems and other health conditions.

We know from our sleep loss studies that when you’re sleep deprived, it negatively affects weight and metabolism in part due to late-night eating, but now these early findings, which control for sleep, give a more comprehensive picture of the benefits of eating earlier in the day.”

The study compared the effect of delayed eating on human health with eating earlier.

For the study, participants of healthy weight first ate earlier for 8 weeks then later for a further 8 weeks.

Eating earlier consisted of three meals plus two snacks between 8 am and 7 pm.

The later eating condition consisted of three meals plus two snacks starting from noon and finishing at 11 pm.

During this time they were allowed to sleep between 11 pm to 9 am.

The research team found that compared to eating earlier, the delayed eating led to weight gain.

There were other negative indicators including high insulin, glucose, triglyceride and cholesterol levels, which suggested a poor metabolism.

Eating early helped participants to feel full for longer and so stopped overeating during the evenings.

Kelly Allison, study co-author, said:

“While lifestyle change is never easy, these findings suggest that eating earlier in the day may be worth the effort to help prevent these detrimental chronic health effects.

We have an extensive knowledge of how overeating affects health and body weight, but now we have a better understanding of how our body processes foods at different times of day over a long period of time.”

Another study by Dr Goel and colleagues suggested that eating less at night reduces the mental problems caused by lack of sleep.

The study was presented at SLEEP 2017, the 31st Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC.

The type of food that interacts with genes causing an increase in body weight.

Frequently eating fried foods doubles the risk of increases in body mass index (BMI) for those who are prone to gaining weight easily.

If you are are genetically susceptible to putting on weight then it might be wise to avoid fried foods.

Fried foods can interact with certain genes increasing the risk of being overweight and obese, the study suggests.

The research team tested the interactions between genes linked to obesity and eating fried food in more than 37,000 American Adults.

They found that eating fried foods more than 4 times a week doubles the effect of BMI gain in people who are genetically at higher risk of obesity.

There are more than 50 obesity-associated genes and at the time of the study they looked at 32 known genetic variants linked to increases in BMI and obesity.

A BMI of 30 kg/m2 or more is considered obese.

They compared the BMI between participants who ate fried foods more than 4 times a week with those who ate it less than once a week.

The difference in BMI among participants who were at the lowest genetic risk was around 0.5 kg/m2.

But the rate was twice as big for participants who were at the highest genetic risk, as the difference in BMI increased to 1.0 kg/m2.

Put simply, the negative effects of a bad diet can be magnified by a person’s genetic makeup.

Dr Lu Qi, the study’s first author, said:

“Our findings emphasize the importance of reducing fried food consumption in the prevention of obesity, particularly in individuals genetically predisposed to adiposity.”

Studies have shown that obesity mostly results from interactions between genes and environmental factors.

Obesity has dramatically increased globally in the past 30 years, mainly caused by changes in lifestyle and diet.

The obesity rate as well as eating fast food are much higher in the United States than the other countries.

Frying is a common way of cooking at home and at fast food restaurants, both of which are popular in the US.

The study was published in the British Medical Journal (Qi et al., 2014).

The quickest exercise for fast weight loss.

High-intensity interval training is linked to the fastest rate of weight loss, research finds.

High-intensity interval exercise involves exercising hard for a short period, such as 30 seconds, and then recovering for four minutes.

People doing this type of interval exercise for 23 minutes lost 30 percent more weight than those exercising continuously for twice as long.

In other words, high-intensity interval training can lead to faster weight loss.

Interval training can be done on a bicycle, by running, jogging, speed walking or with a variety of other exercises.

Current recommendations for weight loss are to work out for an hour a day.

This is not practical for many people, so interval training provides a way to get the exercise done faster.

The conclusions come from a review of 36 studies involving 1,012 people.

The results showed that both continuous workouts and interval training helped with weight loss.

Those doing interval training lost an average of 28.5% more weight than those training continuously.

The study’s authors write:

“It is important to be aware of the possible risks and caveats associated with higher intensity training.

For example, it might increase the risk of injury and impose higher cardiovascular stress.

Adherence should also be examined as higher intensity protocols can result in higher discomfort.”

However, they included a wide variety of studies which…

“…makes it difficult to generally recommend that one particular protocol is ‘best’ for modulating body adiposity.”

Exercise, of course, has a variety of other benefits, many psychological.

One study found that long-term memory is boosted by interval training.

Another found that exercise makes people more extraverted and agreeable.

Exercise also increases people’s conscientiousness and makes them more open to experience.

The study was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (Viana et al., 2019).

Steady diet or crash diet, which one is more effective for losing weight and also maintaining it?

Crash dieting is the fastest way to lose weight, new research finds.

It turns out that the rate of weight loss doesn’t have any effect on putting the weight back on.

In other words, it is not true that people who lose weight rapidly over a short time will then gain it back quickly.

In fact, people who lose excess weight quicker are more likely to reach the target than those who shed their weight gradually.

Professor Joseph Proietto and his colleague set up a dietary assessment to see if slowly losing weight would result in bigger weight reduction and help maintain the weight loss in the longer term.

For the study, 200 obese adults were enrolled either on a gradual weight-loss (GWL) programme or a rapid weight loss (RWL) programme.

GWL involved a 36-week diet plan based on dietary weight loss guidelines by cutting down 500 calories per day.

RWL consisted of a 12-week diet plan based on a very-low-calorie diet or crash diet for which participants consumed less than 800 calories per day.

The results showed that 81 percent of subjects in the RWL group lost 12.5 percent or more of their weight but only 50 percent of participants in GWL group achieved this amount.

Thereafter, those who lost at least 12.5 percent of their body weight went on a three year diet plan to maintain the weight loss.

The research team found that the speed of weight loss had no effect on the rate or amount of weight regained.

After the weight maintenance period those individuals who lost weight in either the RWL or GWL group regained similar amounts of weight.

The rate of putting weight back on was about 71 percent in both groups within 144 weeks.

Ms Katrina Purcell, the study’s first author, said:

“Across the world, guidelines recommend gradual weight loss for the treatment of obesity, reflecting the widely held belief that fast weight loss is more quickly regained.

However, our results show that achieving a weight loss target of 12.5% is more likely, and drop-out is lower, if losing weight is done quickly.”

The authors think one reason might be that crash dieting contains very low amount of carbohydrates.

Limiting carb intake reduces the feeling of hunger and food craving by activating ketosis.

During this process the fat stored in the body will be used to provide most of the energy.

Moreover, rapid weight loss may encourage people to continue with this type of diet as they can see better and quicker outcomes.

Dr Corby Martin and Professor Kishore Gadde from Pennington Biomedical Research Center, in their commentary on this research, said:

“The study…indicates that for weight loss, a slow and steady approach does not win the race, and the myth that rapid weight loss is associated with rapid weight regain is no more true than Aesop’s fable.

Clinicians should bear in mind that different weight loss approaches might be suitable for different patients in the management of clinical obesity, and that efforts to curb the speed of initial weight loss might hinder their ultimate weight loss success.”

The study was published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology (Purcell et al., 2014).

People lost weight without restricting their diet in any other way or doing more exercise.

Making relatively small adjustments to meal times can increase weight loss rapidly, research finds.

Participants in one study who changed their meal timings lost twice as much fat as a comparison group.

They did this without restricting their diet in any other way or doing more exercise.

One option for changing mealtimes is to delay breakfast until later and to eat supper earlier.

For example, by delaying breakfast by 90 minutes and eating dinner 90 minutes earlier.

Another approach is to shift calories to earlier in the day by having a larger breakfast and smaller supper.

Studies have shown that people who eat larger breakfasts can lose more weight.

A recent study tested the weight loss technique of restricting eating to between 8am and 2pm.

To test the approach, 11 overweight people followed this diet for four days.

The results showed that this technique helps to reduce daily swings in hunger.

Dr Courtney Peterson, the study’s first author, explained the benefits:

“Eating only during a much smaller window of time than people are typically used to may help with weight loss.

We found that eating between 8 am and 2 pm followed by an 18-hour daily fast kept appetite levels more even throughout the day, in comparison to eating between 8 am and 8 pm, which is what the median American does.”

Both human and rodent studies have found that the technique of shifting meal times can increase weight loss.

Professor Dale Schoeller, commenting on the study, said:

“These preliminary findings suggest for the first time in humans what we’ve seen in animal models — that the timing of eating during the day does have an impact on our metabolism.

With additional research on early-time restricted feeding on humans, we can create a more complete picture of whether this innovative method can best help prevent and treat obesity.”

The study was presented at The Obesity Society Annual Meeting (Peterson et al., 2017).

The drink reduces levels of bacteria that are linked obesity.

Both black tea and green tea are linked to weight loss, studies find.

Four cups of green tea per day can lead to 5.5 pounds of weight loss, without making changes to exercise or diet, a previous study has shown.

Black tea, meanwhile, helps to change energy metabolism in the liver and can be beneficial to bacteria in the gut.

Both types of tea reduce levels of bacteria that are linked obesity.

In the current study, some mice were fed a black tea extract along with a high-fat diet while others were fed just a low-fat diet.

Those fed the black tea extract, the results showed, weighed the same as those fed the low-fat diet.

Green tea also had a similar effect.

Dr Susanne Henning, the study’s first author, said:

“It was known that green tea polyphenols are more effective and offer more health benefits than black tea polyphenols since green tea chemicals are absorbed into the blood and tissue.

Our new findings suggest that black tea, through a specific mechanism through the gut microbiome, may also contribute to good health and weight loss in humans.

The results suggest that both green and black teas are prebiotics, substances that induce the growth of good microorganisms that contribute to a person’s well-being.”

The main active ingredients in teas are called catechins, which are antioxidants.

The most important of these is called Epigallocatechin-3-gallate, or EGCG.

Green teas usually contain more EGCG.

The result of this study suggest that green and black teas are beneficial beyond the antioxidants they contain.

They also have a positive effect on the gut microbiome.

Dr Zhaoping Li, study co-author, said:

“For black tea lovers, there may be a new reason to keep drinking it.”

The study was published in the European Journal of Nutrition (Henning et al., 2017).