Visceral adipose tissue, a type of fat around internal organs, is more dangerous than the “spare tire” around your waist.
Reducing this kind of fat is considered the primary goal of weight loss as it is a more crucial indicator than weight or waist circumference.
Visceral fat builds up over time between organs and releases hormones and toxins associated with heart disease, diabetes, dementia, and premature death.
The DIRECT-PLUS Study: Green vs. Traditional Mediterranean vs. Non-Mediterranean Diet
Recently, a large-scale clinical trial known as DIRECT PLUS compared the effects of the green Mediterranean diet, the traditional Mediterranean diet, and a non-Mediterranean healthy diet on visceral fat.
The subsequent analysis revealed that the green Mediterranean diet reduced visceral fat by 14%, the traditional Mediterranean diet by 7%, and the non-Mediterranean healthy diet by 4.5%. The findings were published in BMC Medicine.
The research was led by Prof. Iris Shai of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, along with her doctoral student Dr. Hila Zelicha and colleagues from Italy, Germany, and the US.
Understanding the Green Mediterranean Diet
The DIRECT-PLUS trial research team first introduced the concept of the green Mediterranean diet.
This diet is a modified version of the traditional Mediterranean diet, further enriched with dietary polyphenols, and contains less red/processed meat.
In addition to the daily consumption of 28 grams of walnuts, participants had 3-4 cups of green tea/day and 100 grams of duckweed green shake/day.
Duckweed, an aquatic green plant, is rich in bioavailable protein, iron, B12, vitamins, minerals, and polyphenols and served as a substitute for meat intake.
The team has shown in previous studies that the green Mediterranean diet has beneficial effects ranging from improving the microbiome to reducing age-related degenerative diseases.
A Remarkable Reduction in Visceral Fat
294 participants took part in the 18-month-long trial. “A healthy lifestyle is a solid foundation for any weight loss program.
From our experiment’s results, we learned that the quality of food is no less important than the number of calories consumed.
Our aim is to understand the impact of various nutrients, such as beneficial polyphenols and harmful empty carbohydrates and processed red meat, on the speed of fat cell differentiation and their build-up in the viscera,” says Prof. Shai.
Dr. Hila Zelicha added, “A 14% reduction in visceral fat is a dramatic achievement brought about by simple changes to your diet and lifestyle.
Weight loss is an important goal only if it is accompanied by significant results in reducing adipose tissue.”
If you care about nutrition, please read studies about a breakfast linked to better blood vessel health, and drinking too much coffee could harm people with high blood pressure.
For more information about weight loss, please see recent studies that vegan diet rich in legumes may help you lose weight, and results showing this diabetes drug can help people lose never-before-seen amounts of weight.
The study was published in BMC Medicine.
Copyright © 2023 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
