Cardiometabolic risk

Diet Strategies: Better Nutrition and Weight Loss

Saturday, May 30, 2015 at 10:00 am

NEW ORLEANS—Physicians should promote diet strategies that integrate both weight loss and better nutrition-based lifestyle choices in patients.

“It is less expensive and faster to make your own meals.  The key to successful lifestyle change for your patients is helping them understand the importance of planning,” said Timothy S. Harlan, MD, Assistant Dean for Clinical Services, Executive Director, Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine, Associate Professor of Medicine, Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, LA.

In his presentation, “Diet Strategies for Weight Loss and Better Nutrients,” Harlan outlined 13 key points for successful nutrition and weight loss management. All of his points were integrated into his 6 main objectives of the presentation.

One of his main objectives called for the integration of the Mediterranean diet into weight management and dietary counseling. Along with listing the diet’s 9 food categories (including whole grains and dairy), Harlan noted the dietary and weight loss benefits of the Mediterranean diet from clinical studies.

In particular, Harlan highlighted the 8-point Mediterranean Diet (MD) scores of a study that included 28,000 participants from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC-Spain). The study showed that participants were 30% less likely to become obese compared to those with scores ranging between 6 and 8.1

In a clinical trial including 535 healthy subjects, Harlan discussed the health benefits of whole grains including the study finding that whole grains lowered the risk of metabolic syndrome and heart disease factors after a 10-year follow-up. The participants used a 3-day food diary and had their blood tested to analyze for metabolic risk factors.2

Finally, Harlan concluded the Mediterranean diet objective with some data on a dairy study that determines the impact of eating more dairy on BMI, metabolic factors, waist circumference, body fat percentage, blood pressure, and weight.

Some of Harlan’s other objectives involved:

  • The recent literature on diet programs: comparing Zone, Ornish, Atkins, and LEARN diets for relative risk factors and change in weight.
  • Smartphone App Analysis: showing a list of apps and websites to assist patients in finding meal recipes, shopping, and losing weight.

References:

  1. Mendez MA, Popkin BM, Jakszyn P, et al. Adherence to a Mediterranean diet is associated with reduced 3-year incidence of obesity. J Nutr. 2006;136(11):2934-2938.
  2. Sahyoun NR, Jacques PF, Zhang XL, et al. Whole-grain intake is inversely associated with the metabolic syndrome and mortality in older adults. Am J Clin Nutr. 2006;83(1):124-131.