Diet for the Maintenance of Weight Loss and Metabolic Health in Obese Postmenopausal Women

Plain-language summary

The aim of the study will be comparing the effectiveness of two diets: moderate in fat with a high proportion of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) - the Mediterranean diet (MED) and 2) the low in fat and high in dietary fiber contents the dietary approaches to stop hypertension diet (DASH) on weight maintenance and cardiovascular risks following a recent body weight reduction in centrally obese postmenopausal women. The tested diets will be given ad libitum manner. Moreover, adherence to both prescribed weight-loss maintenance diets will be also evaluated by the plasma concentration of alkylresorcinols (AR) as a possible whole grain wheat/rye dietary biomarker and by the analysis of fatty acids profile in erythrocyte membranes as a dietary biomarker of a fatty acids consumption. The participants of this study will be 150 non-smoking, postmenopausal women with central obesity, who wished to lose weight and have at least one other criterion of metabolic syndrome. The intervention will include 3 phases: Phase I (weeks 1-8), weight loss dietary intervention with 700 kcal/d energy deficit, Phase II (week 9-32), weight loss maintenance intervention for those participants losing ≥10% initial body weight the MED or the DASH diet will be offered in a random manner. The control group will receive oral dietary recommendations based on the Harvard model "Healthy Eating Plate". After this 32 weeks period will be finished, the participants will be discharged to the community with no contact by study personnel, until the 52-weeks follow-up period (Phase III).

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