If you want to keep a healthy heart, avoid the “yoyo” effect. According to a new studythe results of which were presented at the annual meeting of the American Physiological Society on April 3, the “fluctuations in body weight resulting from a drastic reduction and increase in calories“would increase the risk of heart disease, and also the risk of diabetes.
While many studies have looked at the short-term effects of weight loss, ultimately little is known about the how cycles of weight loss and weight gain can affect long-term health. Scientists at Georgetown University in Washington then conducted an experiment on rats. And the latter showed in particular that the loss and repeated weight gain worsened their heart and kidney function.
To arrive at their results, the researchers divided the 16 rats monitored into two groups. The first group received a normal amount of food throughout the experiment, and the other had three cycles of a restricted diet, which was 60% of their normal daily food intake, followed by three weeks of a normal diet. During periods of food restriction, rats lost 20% of their body weight. But their weight eventually returned to normal. At the end of the experiment, the researchers used ultrasound to assess heart and kidney function, as well as blood tests to assess insulin sensitivity.
Result: the loss and then the weight gain worsened the cardiac and renal functions of the rodents. But they also showed signs of insulin resistance – 2.6 times higher than in the control group – which leads to an increase in blood sugar, which is a warning sign of diabetes. “Even though the animals appear to be healthy after recovering from the diet, their hearts and metabolisms are not healthy.“, said Alina da Souza, lead author of the study.
The more restrictive the diet, the worse the health impacts
“We need to do more studies in this area, but the results suggest that the more restrictive the diet, the worse the health outcomes may be”continues the researcher.
“Weight loss diets require careful attention to long-term health, especially if rapid weight loss is considered an option“, she finishes.
Source :
- Yo-yo dieting and food insecurity may raise heart disease risk, Experimental BiologyApril 1, 2022
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