Background: Recent systematic reviews have been published on dietary approaches for weight management. Intervention have impact on cardio-metabolic health beyond weight reduction. The aim is to present recent evidence for the impact of dietary intervention for weight reduction on metabolic variables and provide guidance in approaches for weight management.
Method: Recent evidence systematic reviews were evaluated in terms of impact to inform recommendations made for dietary advice within weight control.
Results: Within systematic reviews of weight management interventions, the impact of plasma indicators of metabolic health has been variably reported. Current reviews indicate that a variety of dietary strategies can facilitate weight loss in association with improvements in cardiometabolic indices. Approaches evaluated include different ratios of fat and carbohydrate. For example in adults randomised to isoenergetic balanced weight loss, there were limited differences in change in cardiovascular risk factors up to two years follow-up. For use of meal replacements up to one year, limited data on biochemical outcomes has been reported, although results consistently favoured meal replacement groups for HbA1C with mixed results for other biochemical outcomes (glucose, insulin, lipids, and blood pressure). Other approaches will be discussed.
Conclusion: Evidence based dietary advice for weight management supports a variety of dietary strategies that can be used to facilitate improvements in cardiometabolic health. Further research comparing the impact of dietary pattern versus weight change target on adherence and longterm change in cardiometabolic risk factors is warranted.
Contact email- clare.collins@newcastle.edu.au