Weight Loss Improves Cardiovascular Health
Reported March 03, 2010
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — Diets are no longer just fads! New research shows following a low-carbohydrate diet, a low-fat diet or a Mediterranean diet helps people reverse carotid atherosclerosis and lose weight.
Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, the Nuclear Research Center and Soroka Hospital in Israel say by following one of these three diets, atherosclerosis, a condition that causes the arteries thicken with plaque buildup, can be reversed.
Their study included 140 people, 88 percent of which were men. Researchers compared all three diets among all obese patients over a two-year period. They found a five percent regression in carotid vessel wall volume and 1.1 percent decreases in carotid artery thickness.
Patients who had decreased vessel wall volume also experienced greater weight loss, decreased blood pressure levels, improved homocysteine levels and increases in good cholesterol.
Researchers say these findings indicate that moderately sustained weight loss leads to improved heart health. Researchers warn that these findings may not be applicable to other populations and gender-specific effects are still unknown because so few women were used in the study.
SOURCE: Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, March 1, 2010