It's what you eat -- and how much...
New England School of Medicine/ washingtonpost.com
Pounds gained or avoided due to eating an additional daily serving of above food over 4 years. People who increased their intake of the top listed foods gained weight. Those who decreased their intake of the top listed foods and ate more of the lower foods had less weight gain.
A new study by Harvard researchers published in the New England Journal of Medicine has found a correlation between certain foods and weight gain:
The study was of 120,877 U.S. women and men who were free of chronic diseases and not obese at baseline. The researchers evaluated changes in multiple specific lifestyle factors and weight gain every four years over 12 to 20 years of follow-up.
"Within each 4-year period, study participants gained an average of 3.35 lb, which corresponded to a weight gain of 16.8 lb over the 20-year period. On the basis of increased daily servings of individual dietary components, 4-year weight change was most strongly associated with the intake of potato chips (1.69 lb), potatoes (1.28 lb), sugar-sweetened beverages (1.00 lb), unprocessed red meats (0.95 lb), and processed meats (0.93 lb) and was inversely associated with the intake of vegetables (−0.22 lb), whole grains (−0.37 lb), fruits (−0.49 lb), nuts (−0.57 lb), and yogurt (−0.82 lb)." www.nejm.org
Diet, Lifestyle, and Long-Term Weight Gain from Harvard School of Public Health
Harvard lead author, Dariush Mozaffarian discusses the findings...
www.hsph.harvard.edu
A separate 30 year study funded by the National Institutes of Health shows the average American eats 570 more calories a day than in 1977, and that the number of daily meals and snacks consumed by adults rose to 4.8 in 2006, compared to 3.8 in 1977. Interestingly, an increase of 220 daily calories now comes from sugar-sweetened soft drinks as compared with 1977. The study's authors at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill suspect food availability (bagels at the gas station) and no longer sitting down for proper meals is a major factor. (uk.reuters.com)
To prevent long term weight gain:
Eat less liquid sugars (e.g. soda, fruit juice) and other sweets, as well as fewer starches (e.g. potatoes, casava) and refined grains (e.g. white bread, white rice, breakfast cereals low in fiber, other refined carbohydrates) and fewer highly processed foods (e.g. white breads, processed meats, sugary beverages) and less red meat.
Focus on eating more minimally processed foods e.g. fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and yogurt.
The Harvard study shows that quality of food is the key factor in weight gain. Again, specific foods such as potatoes, starches, red meat, sugar and refined flours will force your body to pack on the pounds. On the contrary, eating more yogurt, nuts, fruit and vegetables will keep your weight down.
The Harvard research also found that those who slept 6-8 hours a night gained less weight than those who slept less than 6 or more than 8 hours. Sad news to insomniacs.
The researchers also discovered that TV watching is a culprit in weight gain. Every hour of TV watching per day, adds up to a third of a pound of weight gain over several years. Anotherwords, a lifetime of multiple hour, daily TV watching will add on the pounds.
www.hsph.harvard.edu
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