Mediterranean Diet Along With Exercise May Help Reduce Fat Deposits: Study

To determine these deposits, they collected an unprecedented quantity of whole body MRI data in benchmark six-month and 18 month scans, each with 300 data points, from moderately overweight to obese men and women. The findings suggested that moderate exercise combined with a Mediterranean diet may help reduce the amount of fat deposits even if you do not lose significant amount of weight as a part of the effort.

The 18 month trial included 278 sedentary adults in an isolated workplace, with a monitored lunch provided. The participants were randomised to iso-caloric low-fat or Med-LC diet - 28 grammes of walnuts per day with or without an added moderate workout at least three times weekly and a supervised, free gym membership.

In the study, even with only moderate weight loss, Med-LC diet was found to be superior to a low-fat diet in decreasing some of the fat storage pools, including visceral, intra-hepatic, intra-pericardial and pancreatic fats. The various fat deposits exhibited highly diverse responsiveness to the interventions, along with moderate, long-term, weight loss.

A Mediterranean diet is rich in unsaturated fats and low in carbohydrates; therefore, it makes for a more effective strategy than an iso-caloric low-fat diet to dramatically reverse morbid fat storage sites.

With Inputs from PTI