Weight Loss Diet & Oats
Weight Study Aim
To investigate the effects of oats, a cereal rich in soluble fiber, on
body composition changes and dietary compliance during consumption of
a weight loss diet.
Weight Study Methods
Subjects were 41 healthy men and women aged 18 to 78 years. Weight maintenance
energy requirements were established over two weeks during consumption
of a control diet with low soluble fiber content. Subjects then consumed
a hypocaloric diet for six weeks, either consuming a low soluble fiber
control diet or a diet containing 45 g/1000 kcal rolled oats, a whole
grain cereal rich in soluble fiber (mean energy deficit -895 ±
18 kcal/day relative to weight maintenance energy requirements). Changes
in body fat and fat-free mass were determined by underwater weighing,
and dietary compliance was assessed using the urinary osmolar excretion
rate technique. In a final phase of the study, subjects ate ad libitum
for six months, and changes in body weight and composition were monitored.
Weight Study Results
There was no significant effect of the oat-containing diet on body weight
or composition changes during the hypocaloric regimen or in the subsequent
ad libitum period. In addition, fecal energy excretion was not significantly
different between groups. However, there were non-significant trends indicating
reduced hunger in the oat group compared to controls (frequency of hunger
2.5±0.5 vs. 3.6±0.4, P=0.1). In addition, fewer oat subjects
were non-compliant (four versus seven subjects dropped out or had urinary
osmolar excretions greater than 130 percent of values predicted from dietary
intake), but again the difference was not significant.
Weight Study Conclusions
These results suggest that use of a cereal rich in soluble fiber in a
closely monitored hypocaloric feeding regimen does not improve weight
loss or dietary compliance. Further studies are needed to examine the
possibility that cereals containing soluble fiber may have effects on
hunger and dietary compliance that could be important in less tightly
controlled protocols than the one described here.
Source: Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts
2001
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