People who follow the ‘green Mediterranean’ diet burn a dangerous type of body fat at four times the rate of most dieters, according to a study.
Those who consumed the plant based The 18-month diet reduced their visceral fat levels by 14 percent, compared to just 4.5 percent in a control group that ate a standard healthy diet.
Visceral fat wraps around vital organs and within the abdomen, typically giving someone a beer belly or apple body shape.
This type is the most dangerous because it is believed to release chemicals and hormones into the blood that trigger inflammation, linked to chronic diseases such as heart disease and fatty liver disease. Their proximity to organs increases the risk.
The Mediterranean diet, high in fat and protein but low in carbohydrates, has become extremely popular in recent years with a large number of studies touting its benefits for longevity. reducing brittleness Y preventing cancer.
The above shows a healthy, Mediterranean and ‘green’ Mediterranean diet that was consumed in the study. The healthy diet (left) followed the basic dietary guidelines, while the Mediterranean diet (middle) followed the standard recommendations for this type of diet that contained plenty of beans, legumes, whole grains, green leafy vegetables, nuts, and fish. The ‘green’ Mediterranean diet was a variation on this in which consumers replaced some meats with green tea and a duckweed smoothie.
The ‘green’ Mediterranean diet still contains plenty of beans, legumes, whole grains, green leafy vegetables, olive oil, nuts and fish, but places more emphasis on vegetables.
People in this group in the latest study were told to give up red meat and poultry and consume three to four cups of green tea and a duckweed smoothie every day.
Researchers believe that polyphenols (plant compounds that protect body tissues against stress) help burn fat, which has been observed in previous studies.
Dr. Hila Zelicha, an obesity expert at Ben-Gurion University in Israel, who was involved in the study, said: “A 14 percent reduction in visceral fat is a spectacular achievement for making simple changes to your diet and Lifestyle”.
Many experts consider visceral fat to be the true goal of weight loss and a better indicator of a person’s health than waist size.
Visceral fat accumulates over time between the organs and produces hormones and poisons for heart disease, diabetes, dementia, and premature death.
The graph above shows the percentage of visceral fat (Shown as VAT) lost among participants based on the group they were assigned to.
The study, published today in the journal BMC Medicine — looked at 294 adults who had an average age of 50 and a BMI of 31, placing them in the obese category. Nearly nine out of ten were men.
They were put on three different diets, and asked to follow them from May 2017 to November 2018.
Two groups were told to follow a variation of the Mediterranean diet.
One followed a plant-based ‘green’ version, including three or four green teas and a duckweed (Mankai) shake a day.
The other followed a standard Mediterranean diet.
Both had caloric restrictions of 1,400 calories a day for women and 1,800 a day for men. They also ate less than 40 grams (g) of carbohydrates per day for the first two months, then increased to 80 g.
In the third group, the participants were advised to eat healthy, but were not given a strict calorie count. They were advised to freely follow the Mediterranean diet.
During the study, each group received 90-minute nutrition lessons each week for the first month and then once a month for the next five months.
They then received the lessons every two months until the end of the study.
All were asked to do aerobic and resistance training three to four times a week for 45 to 60 minutes. They also received free gym memberships to encourage acceptance.
MRIs were completed at the start and end of the trial to measure visceral fat.
Measurements of the participants’ body weight and waist circumference were also taken.
These measures decreased in both groups during the study, although there were no significant differences between the reductions.
In the ‘green’ diet group, participants lost 3.9 percent of their body weight and 5.7 percent of their waist circumference on average.
Those who followed the standard Mediterranean diet lost 2.7% and 4.7%, respectively.
And those who followed a healthy diet lost 0.4 percent and 3.6 percent.
It was the difference in visceral fat that was noticed, according to Dr. Zelicha, who added, “Weight loss is an important goal only if it is accompanied by impressive results in fat reduction.”
Professor Iris Shai, a nutritionist who led the research, said: “We learned from the results of our experiment that the quality of food is no less important than the amount of calories consumed.”
‘The goal is to understand the mechanisms of various nutrients.’
The researchers suggested that the greater loss of visceral fat in the “green” diet group was due to their diets having more polyphenols.
The levels of these plant-based compounds were higher in these participants compared to the other groups.
These require more energy to digest than other groups, which the scientists suggested led to more energy being burned. This, in turn, led to a drop in weight.
The duckweed shake, consumed by those on the green diet, was high in protein, B12 iron, vitamins and polyphenols.
People on the ‘Green Mediterranean’ diet burn a dangerous type of body fat responsible for ‘beer bellies’ at a rapid rate (archive image)
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