By NICHOLAS BAKALAR
As improbable as it sounds, researchers have found that a low-calorie
meal plan that includes dessert with breakfast may help dieters.
Scientists randomized 144 obese people, ages 20 to 65, to two low-carbohydrate diets providing 1,400 daily calories
for women and 1,600 for men. The diets were identical except that one
included a high-carbohydrate, protein-enriched breakfast with a choice
of cookies, chocolate, cake or ice cream for dessert.
Throughout the study, which appears in the March 10 issue of the journal
Steroids, participants were tested periodically for blood levels of
insulin, glucose, lipid and ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates appetite.
During an initial 16-week period, the average weight loss in each group
was identical — about 32 pounds. But over a 16-week follow-up, people on
the dessert-with-breakfast diet lost an additional 13 pounds on
average, while the others gained back all but 3.5 of the pounds they had
lost.
Those on the dessert regimen maintained lower levels of ghrelin and
reported significantly higher levels of fullness. “Most people simply
regain weight, no matter what diet they are on,” said the lead author,
Dr. Daniela Jakubowicz of Tel Aviv University. “But if you eat what you
like, you decrease cravings. The cake — a small piece — is important.”
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