Plain language summary
Obesity has become one of the world’s biggest health problem. Obese individuals with a history of repeated weight loss and regain (called weight cycling) have a higher risk of developing chronic disease and increased fat mass in every cycle. The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of a low calorie high protein diet compared to a low calorie standard protein diet on waist circumference in adults with visceral obesity. The open, randomised clinical trial recruited 61 obese subjects who are older than 20 years of age and had a history of weight cycling. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the two diet groups; high protein or standard protein. Results showed that following a low-calorie diet resulted in waist circumference reduction thus reducing visceral fat. However, protein composition in the diet plan did not affect waist circumference reduction. Authors conclude that calorie restricted diets could be suggested in the treatment of visceral obesity. Macronutrient composition can be adjusted to meet the patient’s individual needs.
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Many individuals with visceral obesity who previously had succeeded in reducing body weight regain and this loss-gain cycle repeats several times which is called as weight cycling. We aimed to evaluate the effect of a low calorie high protein diet (HP) compared to a low calorie standard protein diet (SP) on waist circumference of visceral obese adults with history of weight cycling. RESULTS In this open-randomized clinical trial, participants were asked to follow dietary plan with reduction in daily caloric intake ranging from 500 to 1000 kcal from usual daily amount with minimum daily amount of 1000 kcal for 8 weeks and were divided in two groups: HP group with protein as 22-30% total calorie intake; and SP group with protein as 12-20% total calorie intake. There was a statistically significant difference (P < 0.001) between waist circumference before and after the dietary intervention among both groups. Meanwhile, there was no statistically significant difference in the mean reduction of waist circumference between HP and SP groups (P = 0.073). Taken together, the protein proportion does not significantly affected waist circumference. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03374150, 11 December 2017.
Methodological quality
Jadad score
:
3
Allocation concealment
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Yes
