A new study has just revealed that eating a lot of protein leads to better food choices.
Many people follow a diet in order to stay in shape, lose weight or stay healthy. According a new study from Rutgers University (USA), published in the medical journal Obesity, eating a higher proportion of protein during a diet would promote better food choices.
Protein intake impacts food choices
This new work specifies in particular that the fact of slightly increasing the protein intake would influence food choices. Sue Shapses, study author and professor of nutritional science at Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS), says, “It is somewhat remarkable that a slightly higher protein intake while dieting is accompanied by a higher consumption of green vegetables and a reduced consumption of refined grains and added sugar”.
To reach this conclusion, the researchers collected information from more than 200 men and women aged 24 to 75 with a BMI indicating overweight or obesity. The data also revealed that increasing protein intake helped reduce lean mass loss. In addition to this, the results reveal that people following a diet involving weight loss tended to reduce their consumption of certain micronutrients such as iron and zinc.
Other things to consider, the study encouraged volunteers to follow a 500-calorie deficit diet and allocate 18% of their caloric intake to lean protein. In conclusion, we learn that the low and high protein groups had lost the same amount of weight (regarding 5% of their body mass in six months). The researchers also explain that people in the high-protein group chose a healthier food mix, including increasing their intake of green vegetables and reducing their intake of refined grains.
