- Protein is an essential part of a healthy diet, including among those who work in weight loss programs.
- According to new researchMeIncreasing protein intake may improve people’s food choices and reduce sugar and refined grain consumption.
- Researchers have found that increasing protein intake can also reduce lean body mass loss among people who want to lose weight.
Eating a variety of nutritious foods is essential for good health and well-being. What constitutes a person’s diet affects multiple areas of health, including maintaining a healthy weight. Protein is an important element of the diet.
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One challenge for people working on weight loss is to maintain lean body mass while removing excess fat. Lean body mass (LBM) is related to the mass of the body, which is not composed of adipose tissue or body fat. Part of this amount is muscle, or muscle mass.
Dr. Anastasia Calea of the University College London School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study, explained: Today’s medical news:
“Some meals, lifestyles, [behavioral]Pharmacological or combination weight loss interventions are promising and they often face the challenge of lean body mass loss, which has multiple adverse health effects. It affects your quality of life, [and] The ability to perform activities of daily living affects neuromuscular function, emotions, psychological states, and is associated with hypometabolism, thus affecting sustainability of weight loss. “
“The holy grail of a successful weight loss intervention is to find a way to maintain LBM. Therefore, a weight loss strategy that protects lean body mass is worth it.”
— Dr. Anastasia Calea
Researchers are still working to understand how protein intake affects lean muscle mass and how to optimally implement protein in a weight loss diet.
In this study, researchers sought to investigate “how changes in self-selecting protein intake during calorie restriction (CR) change dietary quality and lean body mass (LBM).”
This study used pooled data from multiple trials and included participants who met specific eligibility criteria. The researchers evaluated 207 adults before and over 6 months on a diet that restricted caloric intake.
All participants were overweight or obese. All participants received weight loss interventions lasting 6-12 months. They all had weekly counseling sessions for the first eight weeks and followed-up visits by registered dietitians.
Researchers evaluated body composition through both dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and dietary intake. They also focused on factors such as protein sources and dietary quality. Based on intake data, they divided the participants into two groups: lower protein intake and higher protein intake.
Research author Dr. Sue Shaps, a professor of nutritional science at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, said: MNT: “In this study design, participants were split in half based on the amount of protein consumed during the 6-month weight loss.”
Researchers have found that the amount of weight loss is similar in both groups. However, the loss of lean body mass was small in the high protein intake group.
Participants in the high-protein group also made healthier food choices, including increased intake of green vegetables and reduced consumption of additional refined grains and sugar.
Professor Shapses explained:
“One of the surprising aspects of this study is that while all subjects were instructed to consume sufficient protein and a healthy diet during the weight loss test, those who consumed less protein had less desirable results. That was unexpected. “
“We found that people with low protein consumption also eat poor quality foods (such as adding more refined grains and sugar and reducing green vegetables).”
— Dr. Sue Shaps
Overall, this study shows that increasing the protein content of the diet may be beneficial to those who work to lose weight. However, there are some restrictions.
For example, participants self-reported their dietary intake, which can lead to data collection errors. However, participants were counseled on how to record food intake, and food intake data was collected at multiple intervals, reducing the risk of error.
In addition, the type of protein can also affect the benefits. In this study, many of the protein participants consumed were from lean meat or plant sources. The authors of the study state that the results are not always generalized because the study was completed in one major location, primarily involving white female participants.
The method used by researchers to measure lean body mass also did not distinguish between mass from organs and mass from muscles. Therefore, it cannot be assumed that the loss of lean body mass in the low protein group is solely due to muscle loss.
As research in this area progresses, more people may choose to incorporate healthy protein options into their diet as they strive to reach healthy weight levels. This concept and ongoing research may help maintain lean body mass, even if you want to lose weight.
Professor Shapses said:
“Although a significant reduction in LBM is not always a good result, it is especially disadvantageous for middle-aged and older people who are trying to lose weight for health reasons.”
“The high-protein group lost as much fat as the low-protein group, but was able to minimize LBM loss (suggesting a decrease in muscle mass loss),” she said. I emphasized.
Dr. Calea said there are still gaps in knowledge to cover in this area of research.
“We have made progress by understanding aspects of protein quality and digestibility, but we need to better understand how to maintain LBM when limiting energy for the purpose of weight loss. We need to understand whether the combination of different protein sources affects LBM. How to personalize our intervention and efficiently define sufficient intake for each individual, “she said. Told.
