Category: Weight Loss

What form of intermittent fasting is the best: alternate day fasting, the 5:2 diet, or time-restricted eating?

Intermittent fasting, which comes in several types, causes mild to moderate weight loss, reduces blood pressure, blood sugar levels, triglyceride and cholesterol levels.

This pattern of eating can improve microbial gut diversity and help people eat less throughout the day.

But which is the best type of intermittent fasting?

A group of researchers reviewed 25 studies on three forms of intermittent fasting:

• Time-restricted eating: an eating window of 8 to 12 hours and fasting during the remaining hours each day.
• 5:2 diet: five days eating normally and two days fasting with restricting the food intake to 500 calories.
• Alternate day fasting: fasting on every other day with restricting the food intake to 500 calories.

The studies reported that those who follow a time-restricted eating regime noticed 3 percent weight loss.

While alternate day fasting produced 3 to 8 percent weight loss within three to eight weeks.

The weight loss results for the 5:2 diet group are similar to alternate day fasting, the finding is surprising as people on the 5:2 diet fasted much less than those who did alternate-day fasting.

The 5:2 diet and alternate day fasting produces similar weight loss results to regular dieting such as low-calorie diets.

Professor Krista Varady, the study’s first author, said:

“We noted that intermittent fasting is not better than regular dieting; both produce the same amount of weight loss and similar changes in blood pressure, cholesterol and inflammation.”

Moreover, people on any of these two intermittent fasting regimens have been found to maintain 7 percent weight loss over a year.

Professor Varady said:

“You’re fooling your body into eating a little bit less and that’s why people are losing weight.”

The review includes some practical advice for individuals who may consider an intermittent fasting regimen.

Side-effects, such as dizziness, constipation, and headaches will drop within one or two weeks of fasting.

Drinking more water can reduce headaches due to dehydration.

• Exercise: Moderate to high-intensity activity is possible as some participants reported that exercise gives them more energy during the fasting hours. Though, it is recommended to have the fasting meal after exercise.
• What to eat: Make sure you eat fruits, vegetables and whole grains as they are high in fibre, which eases constipation.
• Avoid alcohol and caffeine: Alcohol and caffeinated energy drinks are high in calories and can cause headaches due to dehydration.
• Who should avoid fasting: Those with a BMI less than 18.5, those with eating disorders, those who need to take their medicine with a meal at regular times, children under 12, pregnant or lactating women, and shift workers.

Professor Varady said:

“People love intermittent fasting because it’s easy.

People need to find diets that they can stick to long term.

It’s definitely effective for weight loss and it’s gained popularity because there are no special foods or apps necessary.

You can also combine it with other diets, like Keto.”

The study was published in the Annual Review of Nutrition (Varady et al., 2021).

An effective therapy that changes your eating habits and helps you lose weight.

Intensive behavioural therapy is a treatment for obesity in which dietitians and nutritionists help patients to change their poor eating habits.

This treatment works very well as adults lose weight after each session they attend, a new study shows.

Around 40 percent of American adults are obese and at high risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, and certain cancers associated with obesity.

The research reviewed the outcome of intensive behavioural therapy sessions conducted by registered dietitians and nutritionists on 2,097 obese females.

Intensive behavioural therapy for obesity (IBTO) caused considerable improvements as patients in the treatment group lost 1.22 lbs (0.5 kg) per visit.

Whereas patients in the control group who didn’t undergo the therapy sessions gained more weight.

Patients in the treatment group also took prescription drugs for a shorter time and on average 6 days less compared to the control group.

In addition to the weight loss, patients who did IBTO saw a decline in their body mass index (BMI) and blood sugar.

The first month of the IBTO treatment consisted of a once a week session with a registered dietitian.

For the next six months, the therapy sessions were every two weeks and thereafter once a month for the rest of year if the patient lost 3 kg weight within the first 6 months of therapy.

During the therapy they talked about diet, behavioural and lifestyle changes including increases in physical activity.

The dietitians and patients discussed health risks and factors influencing their decision making.

At each session the dietitians provided clear and certain recommendations tailored for their patients.

Both patients and dietitians went through the options to see which method and goal was achievable.

They also discussed any progress and challenges throughout the follow-up meetings.

Dr Lauren Sastre, study co-author, said:

“We are excited about our findings, which demonstrated registered dietitian nutritionist delivered intensive behavioral therapy for obesity to Medicare beneficiaries is effective and beneficial for patients.

This particularly important in light of the growing pressure on providers to track and demonstrate improved Medicare patient outcomes, which include weight status.”

The study was published in the journal of Family Practice (Jacobs et al., 2020).

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).

The overweight, obese and old can lose the same amount of weight as the young by making these changes.

Contrary to the current belief, age does not hinder weight loss.

A study finds that obese patients aged 60 years or even older are able to lose the very same amounts of weight as younger patients.

The weight loss plans are similarly effective for older persons, using lifestyle changes which include psychological support, dietary modification, and boosting physical activity.

Researchers from the Warwickshire Institute enrolled 242 morbidly obese patients and provided them lifestyle weight loss interventions from 2005 to 2016.

The results show that those were 60 or older lost 7.3 percent of their weight while the younger group achieved a 6.9 percent weight reduction.

All the patients who were assigned to the hospital‐based obesity service at WISDEM Centre received a lifestyle intervention programme.

Each patient received an individual lifestyle-based change plan concentrating on healthy diet, change in eating habits, encouraging exercise and psychological help.

Obesity is associated with greater mental problems and death.

Losing weight can reduce over 50 comorbid conditions such as osteoarthritis, diabetes, heart disease, anxiety, and depression in obese individuals.

Dr Thomas Barber, the study’s lead author, said:

“Weight loss is important at any age, but as we get older we’re more likely to develop the weight-related co-morbidities of obesity.

Many of these are similar to the effects of aging, so you could argue that the relevance of weight loss becomes heightened as we get older, and this is something that we should embrace.

There are a number of reasons why people may discount weight loss in older people.

These include an ‘ageist’ perspective that weight-loss is not relevant to older people and misconceptions of reduced ability of older people to lose weight through dietary modification and increased exercise.

Older people may feel that hospital-based obesity services are not for them.

Service providers and policymakers should appreciate the importance of weight loss in older people with obesity, for the maintenance of health and wellbeing, and the facilitation of healthy ageing.

Furthermore, age per se should not contribute towards clinical decisions regarding the implementation of lifestyle management of older people.

Age should be no barrier to lifestyle management of obesity.

Rather than putting up barriers to older people accessing weight loss programmes, we should be proactively facilitating that process.

To do otherwise would risk further and unnecessary neglect of older people through societal ageist misconceptions.”

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

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).