Fruit and fibre key to keeping weight down

NEW YORK - Eating plenty of fruit and fibre may be the key to keeping your weight under control, US research suggests.

Researchers, who compared the diets of 104 adults, found that normal-weight people ate more fibre and fruit each day than their overweight and obese counterparts.

"These findings suggest that the composition of a diet, especially low dietary fibre and fruit intake, play a role in the [development] of obesity," concludes the study team in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

Dr Jaimie N. Davis, of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and colleagues looked at the diets of 52 normal-weight people and 52 who were overweight and obese.

They found marked differences in the dietary habits of the two groups. The overweight and obese subjects consumed more total fat, saturated fat and cholesterol, and less carbohydrate - specifically dietary fibre and complex carbohydrate - than normal weight subjects.

The differences in diet composition "may have played a vital role in promoting or preventing obesity", they write.

Normal-weight adults consumed an average of 33 per cent more dietary fibre and 43 per cent more complex carbohydrates daily than overweight and obese subjects. Dietary fibre and complex carbohydrate intake were inversely related to body weight and "most strongly" to the percentage of body fat.

Complex carbohydrate is typically found in starchy foods and whole grains.

Compared with normal-weight subjects, overweight and obese subjects consumed about one less fruit serving daily, which may partly explain their lower fibre and carbohydrate intake.

There are several mechanisms by which dietary fibre may reduce the risk of weight gain or obesity. For example, dietary fibre slows digestion, prolonging that "full" feeling, and foods high in fibre are usually low in fat and calories.

"The public is still attracted to popular weight-loss strategies that emphasise decreasing carbohydrate and increasing fat and protein," the study team notes in their report.

"Although there is evidence that high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets produce substantial weight loss in the short-term, to date there are no long-term studies that examine the effects of these regimens."

While there is no magic formula for weight loss, in the current study, "dietary fibre, complex carbohydrates and fruit were associated with lower body fat stores in adults", said Dr Davis.

- REUTERS