Diet success may depend on your DNA

An animal study comparing five diets shows that one diet really doesn't fit everyone, and what works for some may not be best for others.

There were four groups of genetically (almost-)identical animals, with genetic differences between any two of the groups translating to roughly the same as those of two unrelated people. The test diets included: an American-style diet (higher in fat and refined carbs, especially corn); Mediterranean (with wheat and red wine extract); Japanese (with rice and green tea extract); and ketogenic, or Atkins-like (high in fat and protein with very few carbs). The fifth diet was the control group.

One of the four genetic types did very poorly when eating the Japanese-like diet, developing signs of liver damage. Two types did well on the Atkins-like diet, but two did very badly (one became very obese, while the other became 'skinny-fat' — apparently a healthy weight but with a high percentage of body fat.

Two types became very obese, with signs of metabolic syndrome, on the American-style diet, while the other two were less negatively affected. With the Mediterranean diet, some groups were healthy, while others experienced some weight gain.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-11/tau-dsm113017.php

[4525] Barrington, W. T., Wulfridge P., Wells A. E., Rojas C. Mantilla, Howe S. Y. F., Perry A., et al.
(2018).  Improving Metabolic Health Through Precision Dietetics in Mice.
Genetics. 208(1), 399 - 417.

Related News

Following on from the evidence that Alzheimer’s brains show higher levels of metals such as iron, copper, and zinc, a mouse study has found that amyloid plaques in Alzheimer’s-like brains with significant neurodegeneration have about 25% more copper than those with little neurodegeneration.

Data from the very large U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), involving 23,168 people, has found a significant association between low dietary fiber intake and risk of metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular inflammation, and obesity.

A study involving 12 rhesus macaques, of whom some were given access to alcohol, has found that those who drank moderately showed enhanced responses to a smallpox vaccine (compared with the control group of monkeys who drank sugar water), indicating a bolstered immune system, while heavy drinker

A mouse study suggests that resveratrol—a compound abundant in red wine—may moderate some of a high-fat diet’s negative effects on the immune system.

http://www.futurity.org/can-resveratrol-balance-fatty-diet/

A study involving 74 older adults (70+), of whom 3 had mild dementia, 33 were cognitively normal and 38 had mild cognitive impairment, has found that high levels of "good" cholesterol and low levels of "bad" cholesterol correlated with lower levels of the amyloid-beta plaques in the brain (a hal

A review of research from 1957 to the present has concluded that a whole diet approach, and specifically Mediterranean-style diets, has more evidence for reducing cardiovascular risk than strategies that focus exclusively on reduced dietary fat.

A Swedish study has found that those who ate poor breakfasts as year 9 students had a higher incidence of metabolic syndrome 27 years later, compared with those who ate more substantial breakfasts.

A study involving 39 young adult men and women of normal weight, who ate 750 extra calories in the form of muffins every day for seven weeks, found that those whose muffins were made with palm oil built significantly more fat and less muscle than those whose muffins were made with sunflower oil.

A study in which 23 healthy volunteers ate half a kilo of strawberries every day for a month has found that their levels of bad cholesterol and triglycerides reduced significantly.

"Sprouted" garlic — old garlic bulbs with bright green shoots emerging from the cloves — have been found to have even more heart-healthy antioxidant activity than fresh garlic.

Pages

Subscribe to Latest newsSubscribe to Latest newsSubscribe to Latest health newsSubscribe to Latest news
Error | About memory

Error

The website encountered an unexpected error. Please try again later.