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my personal edition > obesity > news
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DGDispatch
High Protein Diets More Effective At Maintaining Weight Loss: Presented at ECO
By Mark Pownall
HELSINKI, FINLAND -- June 4, 2003 -- Higher protein diets are more effective at maintaining weight loss in overweight people who previously lost weight on very low-energy diets, suggest researchers.
Dr Manuela Lejeune, of the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands, presented study findings at the European Congress of Obesity, being held here.
One hundred and twenty subjects who lost an average of 6 kg in 4 weeks while following a very low-energy diet were then randomised to follow either a moderately restricted diet (control group), or a diet similar in calories but higher in protein content (study group). The initial weight loss on the very low-calorie diet was equivalent to a mean loss of 7.5% of initial body weight.
The high protein group followed a similar diet but also received a drink containing 48.2g/day protein, resulting in an additional 30g of protein per day, when checked by objective nitrogen balance techniques. The high-protein drink was a partial replacement for lunch.
Those on the high protein diet regained a mean 0.8 kg in the 6 months after the initial weight loss, compared to 3.0 kg regained on the control diet. The difference was statistically significant. Body mass regain in patients on the high protein diet was of fat-free mass, Dr. Lejeune said.
The control diet provided 15% of its energy as protein, while 18% of the higher protein diet by energy was protein.
The subjects, well matched at baseline, also showed a difference in waist circumference at the end of the 6-month study period. Those on the high-protein diet lost an average 1.2 cm around the waist, compared to a gain of 0.5 cm for those on the control diet.
Similarly, those on the high-protein diet reported high feelings of satiety than did the control group, and they had a higher respiratory quotient.
There were no statistically significant differences between the 2 groups in blood test results, physical activity or fat free mass.
Dr Lejeune concluded: "Despite no differences in attitudes to eating, a protein intake of 18% as energy versus 15% as energy resulted in improved weight maintenance, as well as improved fat distribution based on body waist circumference, and improved substrate oxidation and satiety."
She explained: "In the short term, weight loss is often successful, but weight maintenance in the long term is more difficult. Additional protein intake may contribute to the storage of fat free mass, may increase satiety and have a lower energy storage efficiency during overfeeding. The result may be that higher protein diets have a higher cost of weight gain."
In answer to questions from the floor of the congress, Dr Lejeune said that the patients in the control group had not received a lunchtime drink and acknowledged that this left open the possibility that some of the difference between the two groups could be accounted for by the placebo effect.
[Study title: Additional protein intake limits weight gain after weight loss in humans. Abstract t4:02]
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