JERUSALEM, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- A Mediterranean and low-carb diet has the longest,healthiest effects on wellbeing, even if you pack the pounds back on afterward, anIsraeli study shows.
Such a diet, rich in the bounty of Mediterranean-hugging countries, includes a varietyof vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, fish and poultry, and features olive oil as one of itsmain ingredients.
According to the researchers from Ben-Gurion University in the Negev, along withIsrael's Nuclear Research Center, adhering to such low-carb regimens provides abeneficial metabolic effect, lowering the levels of bad cholesterol, triglycerides andlimiting arteriosclerosis.
The study, published this month in the New England Journal of Medicine, was a follow-up for a period of six years over 322 moderately obese research subjects who weregiven three kinds of diets: low-fat; restricted-calorie; Mediterranean, restricted- calorie;or low-carbohydrate, non-restricted-calorie.
Those that followed the Mediterranean diet lost an average of 3. 1 kg, as opposed to1.7 kg lost by people on the low-carb diet. Also, since participants regained an averageof 2.7 kg after the diet period, only the ones on the Mediterranean diet have actuallystayed slimmer.
The results also suggested that the lipid profile improved in the long term, regardless ofpartial weight gain after the diet was concluded.
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