In a recent study, researchers find that a balanced, high protein, low-calorie diet that includes intermittent fasting not only helps with long-term weight loss, but also helps release toxins, enhance heart health and reduce oxidative stress.
This diet cuts back on calories and features four-six meals a day, each of which includes 20 to 25 grams of protein.
Participants in the study also did intermittent fasting.
The study is conducted by Skidmore College scientist Paul Arciero.
Weight loss releases toxins into the blood and could have a negative effect on dieters’ health.
Environmental pollutants and other toxins are stored in fatty tissue. During weight loss, fat breaks down and toxins are discharged into the bloodstream.
Scientists have expressed concern that the released toxins could increase dieters’ oxidative stress and their risk of developing serious conditions, including fertility problems, heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.
In the study, the team aimed to test a new diet they developed for weight loss.
They compared the effects of the special diet between obese men and women following a 12-week weight loss diet.
Then they compared the diet with people achieved by the heart-healthy diet over a 52-week period.
The researchers found that the 12-week diet program was equally effective at reducing body weight (>24 lbs, 10%), oxidative stress (25%), and arterial stiffness (12%) and increasing toxin release (25%) in women and men.
In addition, in the 52-week phase, the diet surpassed the traditional heart-healthy diet in maintaining weight loss; reducing artery stiffness; and releasing toxins.
The current finding shows that the new diet does not increase disease markers and, in fact, can aid detoxification and reduce oxidative stress — help reduce those fears.
Furthermore, the findings suggest that those who are not overweight or obese could also benefit from such a diet.
The study is published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (Arciero-Protein-Pacing & Toxins).
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