Low-calorie diet may be more beneficial for men

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Men who have a low-calorie diet are likely to lose significantly more body weight than women, a new study has found.

The researchers, from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, found that men had larger reductions in a metabolic syndrome score, a diabetes indicator, fat mass, and heart rate. 

Women, on the other hand, had larger reductions in HDL-cholesterol, hip circumference, lean body mass (or fat-free mass), and pulse pressure than men.

For the study, published in the journal Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, the team involved 1504 women and 720 men. 

Following the low-energy diet for eight weeks, weight loss was 16 percent greater in men than in women (11.8 percent and 10.3 percent, respectively) but improvements in insulin resistance were similar.

"Despite adjusting for the differences in weight loss, it appears that men benefited more from the intervention than women," said lead author Pia Christensen from the varsity.

"However, the eight-week low-energy diet in individuals with pre-diabetes did result in the initial 10 percent weight loss needed to achieve major metabolic improvement in the first phase of a diabetes prevention programme," Christensen added.

These findings are clinically important and suggest gender-specific changes after weight loss, the researchers noted.

(With IANS inputs)