Hasta la vista, Mediterranean weight loss program?
No bull, the Atlantic weight loss program — the normal eating plan in northwestern Spain and northern Portugal — is alleged to ease belly fat and improve HDL “good” levels of cholesterol.
The weight loss program consists of quite a lot of fish and seafood, vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, olive oil, dried fruits (particularly chestnuts), milk, cheese, and moderate meat and wine intake.
A study published last week in JAMA Network Open followed greater than 200 families from the agricultural Spanish community of A Estrada from March 2014 to May 2015.
121 families were directed to follow the Atlantic weight loss program, while 110 families continued to devour their typical weight loss program.
Atlantic dieters learned about their latest eating plan over the course of three education sessions and received additional support akin to a cooking class, written materials, and baskets of food.
In the beginning of the study and after 6 months, data was collected on the participants’ dietary intake, physical activity, medication use, and other variables.
Researchers in Spain also measured their waist circumference, triglyceride levels, HDL levels of cholesterol, blood pressure, and fasting glucose levels.
These are the five aspects for metabolic syndrome, a bunch of conditions that raise the danger of developing heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and stroke.
Of the 457 participants who didn’t have metabolic syndrome at first of the trial, 23 developed it through the 6-month follow-up — 17 participants (7.3%) who followed their traditional weight loss program and 6 participants (2.7%) who had switched to the Atlantic weight loss program.
Of the 117 participants who met the factors for metabolic syndrome firstly of the study, 18 of the Atlantic dieters (28.6%) and 16 within the control group (29.6%) shed that label.
The researchers reported that the Atlantic weight loss program “had no significant effect on hypertension, high triglyceride levels, or high fasting serum glucose levels,” but bettered waist circumference and HDL levels of cholesterol.
“The Atlantic Eating regimen presents significant potential for enhancing health on account of its emphasis on nutrient-dense foods and family-oriented eating habits,” Michelle Routhenstein, a registered dietitian nutritionist who makes a speciality of heart disease at EntirelyNourished.com, told Healthline.
“By prioritizing healthful ingredients and traditional cooking methods akin to stewing, this weight loss program enhances the bioavailability of nutrients, ensuring that the body can higher absorb and utilize them,” she added.
Dr. Cheng-Han Chen, a California-based interventional cardiologist not involved with the brand new research, said its results usually are not surprising “because the weight loss program could be very just like the well-studied and useful Mediterranean weight loss program.”
The Mediterranean weight loss program emphasizes vegetables, fruit, beans, lentils, nuts, whole grains, and additional virgin olive oil and allows for a moderate amount of fish, cheese, yogurt, and wine while eschewing beef, sweets, sugary drinks, and butter.
The researchers in Spain also noted that the Atlantic weight loss program “shares similarities” with the Mediterranean weight loss program.
“A majority of these dietary patterns (Atlantic and Mediterranean Diets) have the potential to scale back the danger of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, stroke and even cognitive decline akin to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, and improve [gastrointestinal] function and the gut microbiome,” Tracy Crane, a University of Miami associate professor, told Healthline.
A study published in 2021 found that higher adherence to the Atlantic weight loss program, also often called the Southern European Atlantic weight loss program, was consistently related to a lower risk of death.
There are some limitations to the brand new study, with the researchers acknowledging that “6 months may not have been long enough to properly assess metabolic changes. Follow-up of participants over various years could strengthen our results.”