Dietary Factors Associated with Weight Loss in a Mediterranean Intervention Study

The objective of the study was to evaluate dietary factors associated with weight loss in a dietary intervention study that focused on improving diet quality while maintaining baseline energy intakes. The study randomized a total of 120 individuals who were at increased risk for colon cancer to either the Health Eating diet or the Mediterranean diet for six months. The dietary goals for both diets were based on maintaining the baseline weight. To investigate the changes in dietary intakes that lead to weight loss, those subjects who completed the study were classified into tertile groups according to their weight change from baseline to six months. The three categories were: weight gain (increase in weight 1–25 lbs.), weight maintain (with weight change between 3.2–0.7 lbs.) and weight lost (weight loss between 3.3–20.0 lbs). SPSS was used to evaluate the changes in nutrients and foods over time. Changes in dietary intakes of fruit, vegetables, total fat and saturated fat were similar in the three groups. The proportion of subjects in each diet arm did not differ significantly between groups. The weight gainers paradoxically reported a significant reduction in energy intakes. The weight loser group was unique in displaying a significant increase in total protein and animal protein intakes at 6 months. These results indicate that individuals with weight loss increased their protein intakes while maintaining their total calorie. These modest increases in protein might be a viable weight loss strategy.