Abstract
BACKGROUND: Little is known about the effects of a low energy dense diet on weight maintenance and cardiovascular risks following a recent weight reduction. Therefore, we assessed if weight maintenance, lipid profiles, and glycemic control differ between low energy density (LED) diet and usual diet consumers following a recent weight reduction. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this randomized controlled clinical trial study in a parallel design, we recruited 70 patients with the history of weight reduction in the recent 1 year. LED diet contained 30% fat, 15% protein, and 55% carbohydrate was administered to the test group, and a usual diet including 35% fat, 15% protein, and 50% carbohydrate was prescribed to the control group for 7 months. Dietary intake was assessed by using 3 days food records. Biochemical markers and anthropometric measures were done according to the standard protocol. RESULTS: Weight reduced in LED diet consumers compared to usual diet consumers (-0.3 ± 0.2 vs. 1.3 ± 0.4%, P = 0.002). The results was the same regarding waist circumference (-0.4 ± 0.2 vs. 0.3 ± 0.1%, P = 0.004). Fasting blood sugar also decreased in LED diet group (-9.5 ± 0.8 vs. 0.4 ± 1.0%, P = 0.0001). LED diet group had a drop in percent change of their total cholesterol (-0.4 ± 0.5 vs. 2.05 ± 0.4%, P = 0.04) and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (4.8 ± 0.9 vs. -0.3 ± 0.9%, P = 0.002). CONCLUSION: Our findings confirmed beneficial effects of LED diet on attenuating weight regain in subjects with history of recent weight reduction. It might be derived from higher consumption of fruits, vegetables, and fiber among LED diet than usual diet consumers.