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High protein, low carb diets reduce belly fat

A higher-protein, lower-carbohydrate and energy-restricted diet has a major positive impact on body composition, according to a study published in the September issue of the Journal of Nutrition.

The researchers say this style of diet promotes abdominal fat loss and increased lean muscle, particularly when the proteins come from dairy products.

The study compared three groups of overweight and obese, but otherwise healthy, premenopausal women. Each consumed either low, medium or high amounts of dairy foods coupled with higher or lower amounts of protein and carbohydrates.

The women exercised seven days per week for four months, a routine that included five days of aerobic exercise and two days of circuit weightlifting.

According to the researchers, there were identical total weight losses among the groups, but the higher-protein, high-dairy group experienced greater whole-body fat and abdomen fat losses, greater lean mass gains and greater increases in strength.

The tissue composition, exclusively fat, of the weight the women lost has profound implications for longer-term health

Read more at McMaster University

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