Yo-Yo Dieting Can Be Good For You
For years we’ve all been lead to believe that yo-yo dieting is detrimental to our health, but now new research shows that it is much better for us than previously thought.
U.S. researchers have found that the constant motion of gaining and losing weight leads us to live a similar life-span to those on a constant low-fat diet.
The study involved putting mice on alternate diets. Some were placed on high fat diets, some on low fat diets and others on a yo-yo diet.
The mice on the yo-yo diet lived 25 per cent longer than the mice on the permanent high fat diets, and nearly as long as those on a permanent low fat regime.
It was previously thought that yo-yo dieters were at double the risk of death from heart disease and heart attacks. It was also thought that they were at risk of premature death in general, strokes, diabetes and suppression of the immune system, making them more vulnerable to infection.
This recent study found that the mice on the yo-yo diet had better glucose than those on a low fat and high fat regimes and results hinted that the yo-yo dieters had less chance of developing diabetes, heart disease and cancer as they showed lower levels of immune damaging chemicals – a complete contrast to previous research.
The study leader Dr Edward List from Ohio University said, “The new research shows that the simple act of gaining and losing weight does not seem detrimental to lifespan.
“The study adds to our understanding of the benefit of losing weight. I would hope that this encourages people not to give up.”
The study was carried out over two years (the normal lifespan for the strain of laboratory mice used) and saw that the high fat regime caused the mice to be heavier, have high levels of body fat and blood glucose and showed early signs of diabetes.
The yo-yo dieter’s health declined during the high fat phases but weight and blood glucose levels returned to normal once calories were cut.
The lifespan of the mice on the high fat regime was, on average, 1.5 years. The yo-yo dieter’s lifespan saw an average of 2.04 years which was very close to the low fat dieter’s average of 2.09 years.
The results were revealed at the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society in Boston, Massachusetts on Monday.
Sian Porter of the British Dietetic Association said that it was “not surprising” that the yo-yo dieters lived longer than the obese mice.
She added: “I think it falls in to the category of very interesting but it would be more interesting if replicated in humans.”
FemaleFirst
Cara Mason
Tagged in Diet