If you want to improve your health, cutting calories could help.
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Researchers from Duke University Medical Center recently conducted a study, published in the Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology journal, to determine the effectiveness of calorie restriction.
To do so, they examined 143 healthy men and women who ranged in age from 21 to 50. The participants were required to practice calorie restriction for two years by cutting their daily caloric intake by 25%. They could eat whatever they wanted.
After analyzing the results, they found many subjects did not achieve the goal. On average, the adults slashed only about 12% of their total daily calories, which is about 300 calories.
Although most of the dieters did not meet the target, they still experienced significant health benefits, including improved cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure and better blood sugar control.
The dieters also had reductions in a biomarker linked with chronic inflammation, which has been associated with heart disease, cancer and cognitive decline.
Furthermore, they lost weight and body fat. They dropped about 16 pounds over the course of the study.
Those who were a part of the control group and did not cut calories did not have the same results.
"This shows that even a modification that is not as severe as what we used in this study could reduce the burden of diabetes and cardiovascular disease that we have in this country," lead author William Kraus said in a statement. "People can do this fairly easily by simply watching their little indiscretions here and there, or maybe reducing the amount of them, like not snacking after dinner."
Want to learn more about the findings? Take a look at the full assessment here.
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