Weight Loss & Men
Weight Study Aim
To compare changes in total and regional body composition using dual energy
X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) after subjects lost weight through change
in diet or exercise.
Weight Study Design
A 12-month, randomized, controlled study of two weight-loss interventions-low-fat
diet ad libitum or moderate, unsupervised exercise-in free-living, middle-aged
men. Compliance was determined at monthly measurement sessions through
food records and activity logs; DEXA scans were performed every 3 months.
Weight Study Setting
Fifty-eight overweight men recruited from a national corporation were
assigned randomly to diet, exercise, or control groups. One group reduced
dietary fat to 26.4 percent of energy intake but kept activity unchanged;
another group self-selected aerobic exercise (three sessions per week
at 65 percent to 75 percent maximum heart rate) but kept diet unchanged.
A control group maintained weight.
Weight Study Results
Mean weight loss was 6.4 +/- 3.3 kg in dieters and 2.6 +/- 3.0 kg in exercisers;
control subjects maintained weight. DEXA scans revealed that 40 percent
of dieters' weight loss was lean tissue; more than 80 percent of weight
lost by exercisers was fat. Exercisers maintained limb lean tissue and
lost fat mass.
Weight Study Conclusions
Greater total weight and lean tissue loss occurred when subjects lost
weight through a low-fat diet consumed ad libitum than when subjects participated
in unsupervised aerobic exercise. Use of DEXA enabled identification of
progressive total and regional changes in fat and lean tissue.
Source: Pritchard JE, Nowson CA, Wark JD.
Department of Physiology, Royal Melbourne Hospital, University of Melbourne,
Parkville, Australia. 1997
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