title: Low energy density diet, weight loss maintenance, and risk of cardiovascular disease following a recent weight reduction program: A randomized control trial.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Little is known about the effects of a low energy dense diet on weight maintenance and cardiovascular risks following a recent weight reduction. Therefore, we assessed if weight maintenance, lipid profiles, and glycemic control differ between low energy density (LED) diet and usual diet consumers following a recent weight reduction.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this randomized controlled clinical trial study in a parallel design, we recruited 70 patients with the history of weight reduction in the recent 1 year. LED diet contained 30% fat, 15% protein, and 55% carbohydrate was administered to the test group, and a usual diet including 35% fat, 15% protein, and 50% carbohydrate was prescribed to the control group for 7 months. Dietary intake was assessed by using 3 days food records. Biochemical markers and anthropometric measures were done according to the standard protocol.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Weight reduced in LED diet consumers compared to usual diet consumers (-0.3 ± 0.2 vs. 1.3 ± 0.4%,P= 0.002). The results was the same regarding waist circumference (-0.4 ± 0.2 vs. 0.3 ± 0.1%,P= 0.004). Fasting blood sugar also decreased in LED diet group (-9.5 ± 0.8 vs. 0.4 ± 1.0%,P= 0.0001). LED diet group had a drop in percent change of their total cholesterol (-0.4 ± 0.5 vs. 2.05 ± 0.4%,P= 0.04) and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (4.8 ± 0.9 vs. -0.3 ± 0.9%,P= 0.002).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings confirmed beneficial effects of LED diet on attenuating weight regain in subjects with history of recent weight reduction. It might be derived from higher consumption of fruits, vegetables, and fiber among LED diet than usual diet consumers.
authors.affiliation: Food Security Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran; Department of Nutrition, School of Nutrition and Food Science, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran; Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangore, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Golgis
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Karimi
authors.affiliation: Food Security Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran; Department of Nutrition, School of Nutrition and Food Science, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran; Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Leila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Azadbakht
authors.affiliation: Food Security Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran; Department of Nutrition, School of Nutrition and Food Science, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Fahimeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Haghighatdoost
authors.affiliation: Food Security Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran; Department of Nutrition, School of Nutrition and Food Science, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran; Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Ahmad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Esmaillzadeh
keywords: Anthropometric measurements; cardiovascular disease; energy density; weight maintenance