Regular consumption of low-calorie beverages and low fat foods may help maintain weight loss and a stable body weight, according to a new obesity study from New Zealand.
In this study, researchers compared the dietary strategies of 172 people who had maintained weight loss to the eating habits of 131 normal weight people. Weight loss maintenance was defined a loss of at least 10 percent of original body weight maintained this for about 12 years.
Both groups had similar body mass indexes. Overall, the weight loss maintainers' diets were 5 percent lower in fat and their diet contained more fat and sugar reduction strategies than the normal weight people.
Weight loss maintainers consumed 11 percent more lower fat, lower sugar dairy products and 11 percent more calorie-reduced salad dressings and sauces than their counterparts who had always been a normal weight.
The weight loss maintainers also reported consuming significantly more servings every day of artificially sweetened soft drinks.
Low-calorie sweeteners and reduced-calorie products are not magic bullets; using these products will not result in automatic weight loss.
Instead, people looking to lose or maintain weight, can use low-calorie sweeteners in addition to portion control to help manage their calories, wrote these nutrition researchers in the International Journal of Obesity.
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