Research has found that visceral adipose tissue, a kind of fat surrounding internal organs that’s a lot more dangerous than a larger-than-normal waist circumference, is significantly reduced with the green Mediterranean diet.
A comparison was made between the green Mediterranean diet and the standard Mediterranean diet as well as a healthy diet in the large-scale 18-month-long DIRECT PLUS study in which 294 individuals took part.
The study results found a 14% reduction in visceral fat with the green Mediterranean diet, a 7% reduction in visceral fat with the standard Mediterranean diet, and a 4.5% reduction in visceral fat with the healthy diet.
Reducing visceral fat is regarded as the true objective of weight loss as it’s a more important indicator of health than an individual’s weight or waist circumference. Visceral fat gradually aggregates between organs and generates toxins and hormones associated with dementia, diabetes, heart disease, and premature death.
The researchers were the 1st to introduce the green-Mediterranean diet concept. This modified green Mediterranean diet is lower in processed/red meat and further enriched with dietary polyphenols compared to the traditional green Mediterranean diet.
In addition to a daily consumption of 28g of walnuts, the individuals consumed 3 to 4 daily cups of green and 100g of duckweed shake every day. Duckweed is an aquatic green plant that’s high in polyphenols, minerals, vitamins, B12, iron, and bioavailable protein, and was a meat consumption replacement.
Earlier research has shown that the green Mediterranean diet has various beneficial effects which range from the microbiome to degenerative diseases related to age.
The study results demonstrated that food quality is just as important as the number of calories eaten and the objective is to understand how the various nutrients affect fat cell differentiation and their aggregation in the viscera, such as positive nutrients which include polyphenols, and the negative nutrients which include processed red meat and empty carbohydrates.
A visceral fat reduction of 14% is an impressive accomplishment for simple changes made to lifestyle and diet. Weight loss is a helpful objective if it’s in conjunction with adipose tissue reduction.
Image by Willgard Krause from Pixabay
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