A new study at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine finds that weight loss programs that provide healthy fats, such as olive oil in the Mediterranean diet, or a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diets do more than just reduce weight. More specifically, the researchers report that a meal plan rich in walnuts, which are high in polyunsaturated fats, has a significant impact on lipid levels for women, especially those who are insulin-resistant.
Many diets have said it is okay to eat healthy fats and emphasize olive and canola oils," said Cheryl Rock, PhD, principal investigator of the study, published this week in the Journal of the American Heart Association. What we found is that a diet high in healthy oils did lower lipids, but it also lowered both good and bad cholesterol." In the United States, 28 percent of adults over the age of 40 use lipid-lowering drugs. Lifestyle changes that promote weight loss and reducing consumption of saturated fat have been associated with reducing levels of bad" cholesterol
Overweight and obese adult women asked to participate in a one-year behavioral weight loss program and were randomly assigned to one of three diets consisting of either: low-fat and high-carbohydrate; low-carbohydrate and high-fat; or a walnut-rich, high-fat and low-carbohydrate diet.
The findings showed that all three dietary plans resulted in similar weight loss. Insulin-sensitive women lost the most weight with a low-fat diet but the women did not significantly reduce lipid levels. The walnut-rich diet had the most impact on cholesterol levels by decreasing low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or bad cholesterol, and increasing beneficial high-density lipoprotein (HDL). The high-fat, low-carb group, which consumed monounsaturated fats, did not experience the same beneficial effects as the walnut-rich diet, which featured polyunsaturated fatty acids.
At six months, the average weight loss was almost 8 percent among all groups. This weight loss may not put the women within the study at their ideal weight, but it made a significant reduction in a risk of cardiovascular and other diseases," said Rock. This level of weight loss is achievable and can have a dramatic impact on quality of life."
Insulin sensitivity was assessed in the study due to the fact that people who are overweight usually have some degree of insulin resistance. Higher amounts of insulin are more likely to cause cells to lose their ability to regulate growth, a precursor to cancer.
Diet composition impacts lipid levels, but the critical factor to lose weight continues to be to burn more calories than you consume," said Rock.
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