Almonds, Weight

An August 2022 study by the University of South Australia said, 

• “Rates of overweight and obesity are a major public health concern  and modulating appetite through better hormonal response may be key to promoting weight management,” 

• “Our research examined the hormones that regulate appetite, and how nuts – specifically almonds - might contribute to appetite control.”

•  “We found that people who ate almonds experienced changes in their appetite-regulating hormones, and that these may have contributed to reduced food intake (by 300kJ).”

• “Almonds are high in protein, fibre, and unsaturated fatty acids, which may contribute to their satiating properties and help explain why fewer kilojoules were consumed.”

•  “Even small, positive lifestyle changes can have an impact over a longer period. When we’re making small, sustainable changes, we’re more likely to be improving our overall health in the long run,”

• “Almonds are a fantastic healthy snack to incorporate into the daily diet. We are now excited to look at how almonds might affect appetite during a weight loss diet and how they might assist with weight management in the long term.”

Weight cycling, Sleep

A May 2021 study by Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, and colleagues said a, "History of weight cycling was prospectively associated with several measures of poor sleep, including short sleep duration, worse sleep quality, greater insomnia, greater sleep disturbances, and greater daytime dysfunction among diverse US women across various life stages," 

Weight-loss, obesity and sitting

A May 2021 study by California Polytechnic State University, in San Luis Obispo said it’s findings,

• "hopefully will prompt future weight maintenance intervention research testing the effects of and optimal approaches for reducing sedentary behavior, including non-work-related computer and video game usage. Future research should include objective measures of sedentary behavior and activity," 

• "These findings are important for understanding behaviors that may enhance weight loss maintenance, and one of those may be to reduce sitting time and other modes of sedentary behavior. However, this study also showed that physical activity was associated with improved weight-loss maintenance. Thus, this study does not imply that simply standing more rather than sitting will contribute to weight-loss maintenance, but may suggest that less sitting that results in more movement is what is key to weight loss maintenance. Hence, sit less and move more,"

Rye -v- wheat for weight loss

An October 2021 study by Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, said,  

• “The results were clear ­– the participants who received rye products lost more weight overall, and their levels of body fat decreased compared to those who received wheat products,” 

• “Although we saw an overall difference in weight loss between the rye and the wheat group, there was also very large variation within those groups. Increasing our understanding of why different people respond differently to the same foods can pave the way for more specifically tailored diets based on individual needs. We are currently investigating whether certain specific bacteria in the intestine might be the explanation behind why some people lost more weight than others who were also on the rye diet,”

• “But surprisingly, in this study, we actually never observed any difference in appetite. We think this may be simply because the method we used to measure appetite was not good enough. We are therefore working on evaluating and developing the method further,”

• “A particularly positive aspect of our study is that the rye products we used are easily attainable in normal supermarkets in Scandinavia and most of Europe. Consumers can therefore act on the new results immediately. It does not require particular effort or dedication to have a diet rich in whole grain rye”,

• “As we continue to look for the exact reasons why, our advice is to choose the rye bread instead of the sifted wheat bread,”

Diabetes, diet and blood pressure

A May 2021 study at the Universities of Glasgow and Newcastle for the Diabetes UK-funded DIabetes REmission Clinical Trial (DIRECT), said, 

• "We wanted to evaluate the safety and efficacy of withdrawing blood pressure medication when beginning our specially-designed weight-loss programme for type 2 diabetes, and we are really pleased with the results.

• "Our study shows that, in addition to possible remission from type 2 diabetes, there are other very important health benefits, as weight loss is a very effective treatment for hypertension and its associated serious health risks.

• "Currently, over half of all the 4.5 million people with type 2 diabetes in UK also require tablets for hypertension, to reduce serious vascular complications. Being overweight is the main cause, and losing weight can bring a remission from hypertension for many, as well as a remission of diabetes. Withdrawing blood pressure medications is safe, provided people lost weight and blood pressure was checked regularly, in case tablets needed to be reintroduced.”

• "The DiRECT trial was done entirely in primary care. The evidence shows that GPs can safely offer an evidence-based intensive weight management intervention, aiming for substantial weight loss and remission of type 2 diabetes. The study further highlights the links between diet, weight, type 2 diabetes and hypertension, and how long-term support to maintain weight loss is vital."

Newcastle University, said,

• "Guidelines encourage doctors to start tablets but there have been few demonstrations of how tablets can be stopped.

• "My patients, like so many, do not like swallowing multiple tablets, and this study is important as we can now reassure them that stopping blood pressure tablets is not only safe but also good for their health. We've shown that when substantial weight loss is achieved and maintained, patients can effectively manage both their blood pressure and type 2 diabetes without drugs."

University of Glasgow, said, 

”The potential to no longer need medications for blood pressure and diabetes is a big incentive for people. We hope our results will reassure health professionals that this is possible, and encourage the wider provision of diabetes remission services."

Diabetes UK, said,

 "These important results show that the Diabetes UK-funded DiRECT low-calorie, weight management programme not only helps some people put their type 2 diabetes into remission, but can also lower blood pressure, allowing some people to safely stop taking their blood pressure medication.”

"We're delighted to see more evidence of the life-changing impact of the DiRECT programme on people's health. This makes us even more determined to make sure as many people as possible have access to type 2 diabetes remission services."

Cocoa and Weight Control

An April 2021 study by Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences said,

"While it is typically considered an indulgence food because of its high sugar and fat content, epidemiological and human-intervention studies have suggested that chocolate consumption is associated with reduced risk of cardio-metabolic diseases including stroke, coronary heart disease and Type 2 diabetes,”

"So, it made sense to investigate whether cocoa consumption had an effect on non-alcohol-related fatty liver disease, which is commonly associated with human obesity.”

"Given the high proportion of people in the United States and other parts of the world with obesity, there is a need to develop potentially effective dietary interventions rather than just preventive agents,”

“This exchange is potentially beneficial, especially in combination with a healthy overall diet and increased physical activity,”

"If you go to the gym and work out, and your reward is you go home and have a cup of cocoa, that may be something that helps get you off the couch and moving around."

Losing Weight by Exercising

An April 2021 study by the Technical University, Munich and the University of Nebraska found, 

"In the sports context, we have the phenomenon of people overeating after physical activity," 

"People want to reward themselves and their bodies for being active. So we use a hypothetical experiment to find out why people eat more after exercise compared to when they don't exercise."

"Based on this study, we were able to show for the first time that certain characteristics, such as the amount and 'urgency' with which a person wants to eat, change over the course of physical exertion," 

“These findings help us develop new interventions to optimize weight loss through exercise."

"The actual results suggest that physical exertion can entice those who do sport to eat larger amounts of food more quickly after the training session," 

"Since weight loss is a main motivation for exercising for many, and failure to achieve the desired weight loss makes it likely to quit exercising, it could be a good strategy to think about what you want to eat afterwards before you start to exercise."