Food Calories Is What Counts at the End of the Day
Lona Sandon, MEd, RD, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, who was not involved in the study, said in an email to MedPage Today and ABC News that the findings “confirm what other research has confirmed — calories count” when it comes to obesity.
“A low-protein diet may mean you weigh less, but might cause higher levels of body fat,” Sandon said. “Those that ate the low-protein diet gained less weight overall, but the weight they gained was mostly body fat. Excess body fat is related to metabolic syndrome and other health issues even if you are of normal or slightly overweight.”
Sandon also noted that the increased gain in muscle mass among those on the normal- and high-protein diets likely accounts for the increase in resting energy expenditure.
“We also know from other research that protein has a higher thermic effect on food,” he said in the email. “Higher protein intake requires more calories to digest, absorb, and metabolize compared to carbohydrate or fat. This may partly explain the increased calorie expenditure in the normal-to-high-protein groups.”
Bray cautioned that the study was limited because the majority of patients were male and black, and the findings may lack generalizability, but still concluded that “protein does influence what happens to your lean body muscle mass during the course of any dietary intervention, so there’s an important value to eating protein, but it doesn’t influence your storage of calories.”
In an accompanying comment, Zhaoping Li, MD, PhD, and David Heber, MD, PhD, of the University of California Los Angeles, said the study demonstrates “how low-protein foods with hidden sugars or fats may be contributing to the obesity epidemic.”
“When individuals consume excess carbohydrates out of proportion to protein, the body may gain less weight than when protein is consumed in adequate amounts,” they wrote. “Clinicians should consider assessing a patient’s overall fatness rather than simply measuring body weight or body mass index, and concentrate on the potential complications of excess fat accumulation.”
The study was supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Bray reported relationships with Abbott, Takeda, Medifast, Herbalife, Global Direction in Medicine. Co-authors reported relationships with Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Elcelyx, Merck, Phillips, Catapult Health, and Domain & Associates. The editorialists reported no conflicts of interest.
To your health!
Emilia Klapp, RD, BS
www.TheDiabetesClub.com
www.Discussion.TheDiabetesClub.com
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