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According to the World Health Organization, obesity has nearly tripled worldwide since 1975. In 2016, for example, more than 1.9 billion adults were categorized as overweight. Of these, more than 650 million had obesity. Because obesity is associated with a higher incidence of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some cancers, the rise in its incidence has led to a global public health emergency.
Meal replacements and high-protein diets have long been used to combat obesity. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has published a study by the authors by comparing the impact of high-protein diet replacement to that of a control diet.
Weight management strategy are high-protein diets, which have been shown to promote weight loss and weight maintenance by increasing our sense of fullness, energy expenditure, and ability to maintain or increase fat-free mass.
In fact, several high-protein total diet replacement products are widely available to consumers. The question is do they work?
That’s the core question addressed by the authors of “A High-Protein Total Diet Replacement Increases Energy Expenditure and Leads to Negative Fat Balance in Healthy, Normal-Weight Adults,” published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. In their study, the authors compared the impact of a high-protein total diet replacement to that of a control diet, a typical North American diet, on selected components of energy metabolism.
Senior Nutritionist, Reshma Chaddha says, “considering it as a easy option it is not surprising nutritional strategies such as total diet replacements and high-protein diets are popular as weight management strategies. However, research around these topics has not kept pace with their growth in popularity.”
In order to conduct their experiment, the authors recruited a group of healthy, normal-weight adults between the ages of 18 and 35 via advertisements placed on notice boards at the University of Alberta, Canada.
Subjects were then randomly assigned into one of two groups: one group was fed the high-protein total diet replacement, which consisted of 35 per cent carbohydrate, 40 per cent protein, and 25 per cent fat. The second group, the control group, was fed a diet with the same number of calories, but consisting of 55 per cent carbohydrate, 15 per cent protein, and 30 per cent fat, a typical North American dietary pattern. Participants received the prescribed diets for a 32-hour period while inside a metabolic chamber.
Compared to the standard North American dietary pattern, the findings of this inpatient metabolic balance study revealed that the high-protein total diet replacement led to “higher energy expenditure, increased fat oxidation, and negative fat balance.” In particular, the results of the study provide further evidence that a calorie is not just a calorie. That is, a diet with a higher proportion of protein might lead to an increase in energy expenditure and fat oxidation compared to a diet consisting of the same number of calories, but with a lower proportion of protein as well as a higher proportion of carbohydrate or fat.
Although, these results are restricted to a specific population of healthy, normal-weight adults, they can help nutrition scientists and healthcare providers better understand the real physiological effects of a high-protein total diet replacement in humans.
It is first understand the physiological impact of a high-protein total diet replacement in a healthy population group. In effect, the effects are better translated in individuals with obesity and its related.
