Researchers have set out ways in which dietary changes may benefit overweight and obese individuals without compromising their nutrient intake.
Dr Tom Wycherley, School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia, and colleagues used information on food intake from 12,153 people who provided information to the 2011/13 Australian Health Survey.
The team calculated the impacts of various substitutions in the diet. They explain that ‘discretionary’, or less healthy, foods in the diet "displace core foods such as fruit, vegetables, dairy, lean meats, and whole grains".
They found that if individuals cut their discretionary food intake, their daily energy intake would fall by 184 calories.
Findings were presented at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes meeting held in Munich, Germany from 12-16 September. "Replacing some discretionary choices with less energy dense core foods is likely to be a more sustainable option to improve diet quality and reduce daily calorie intake without resulting in increased hunger."
They add: "The exception to this is calories obtained from sugar sweetened beverages; simply reducing sugar sweetened beverage consumption by replacing them with water, may be a sustainable way to reduce calorie intake without affecting hunger."
Also presented at the conference were findings suggesting that the environment has a greater impact on obesity risk for those carrying genes predisposing them to obesity.
The team, led by Professor Timothy Frayling of Exeter University, UK, examined the links and say that "no one aspect of the environment, such as fried food or sugary drink consumption, is especially to blame".
They used genetic information on 120,000 individuals from the UK Biobank, while measuring many aspects of the environment.
"Public health measures aiming to alter all aspects of the obesogenic environment in small ways may have more impact in lowering the prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes than targeting a single or few aspects," they report.
Wycherley, T. P. Poster: Nutritional impact of discrete strategies to reformulate or reduce discretionary food choices in the diet of the Australian population.
Tyrrell, J. et al. Poster: Gene-obesogenic environment interactions in the UK Biobank study.
Both presented at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes meeting held in Munich, Germany from 12-16 September 2016.
Leave a Reply