Protein pacing and calorie restriction can result in significant shortterm fat loss, and compared to a ‘hearthealthy’ low cholesterol diet can significantly improve longer term weight management, a study suggests.
Researchers from the US, South Africa and Denmark looked at the effect a combined proteinpacing and calorie restriction (PCR) programme had on 43 healthy but obese American men and women over a 12week period.
With a smaller subset of participants over a 52week period they compared this to a ‘hearthealthy’ (HH) diet in line with the Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLC) diet backed by the US National Cholesterol Education Programme.
Visceral fat down a third
During the 12week weightloss phase, they found participants on average lost 10% of their mass in weight and 33% of their visceral fat, while increasing their lean mass by 9%. Participants’ glucose levels fell 712%, insulin by 42% and leptin by more than 50%, while their resting metabolic rate rose 5%.
After the oneyear weight maintenance phase, a modified proteinpacing and calorie restriction (mPCR) regime resulted in 6% lower body weight, 10% total body fat and 17% lower abdominal fat, as well as 5% greater lean mass, compared to participants on a hearthealthy regime.
There were no significant differences in results between men and women during either phase.
“Thus [protein pacing and calorie restriction] should be considered as a viable public health recommendation to facilitate weight loss and prevent weight recidivism in obese men and women,” the researchers wrote in their conclusion.
The team had originally set out to investigate sexspecific differences in response to the PCR regime, in response to the tendency of PCR research to focus on women.
During the initial phase of the research, and with approval from participants and academic authorities, the team proposed extending the research to include the longerterm weight management (WM) phase.
Hearthealthy diet saw higher weight gain
During this second phase, they noted the significant difference mPCR had on weight gain, with the mPCR group regaining less than 1% of their body weight. The HH group gaining ten times as much, up by 6.1%.
“Our finding that mPCR significantly attenuated increases in body weight and TBF [total body fat] and ABF [abdominal body fat] compared to HH despite similar maintenance in [resting metabolic rate] following WM, may imply that PCR has an additional ‘metabolic advantage’ in preventing weight relapse,” wrote the authors.
“Indeed, previous research from our laboratory confirms the metabolic and body composition advantages of proteinpacing in obese subjects, possibly due to the increased amount and timing of protein intake in the PCR diet compared to traditional HH (lower protein component),” they added.
They also found that during WM, insulin and glucose levels for all participants remained unchanged.
“This was somewhat surprising given the significant regain of body weight and TBF in HH participants and implies some other mechanisms are responsible for mediating insulin and glucose levels.”
During the initial phase, subjects followed a PCR regime for six days, with intermittent fasting on the seventh. During PCR days, participants consumed six meals, in aggregate containing 30% protein, 45% carbohydrate and 25% fat, and providing around 1200 kcals for women and 1500 kcals for men.
On intermittent fast days, participants consumed around 350400 kcals in total.
Source: Nutraingredients
