Study Suggests 'Yo-Yo Dieting' Better Than Not Dieting, Remaining Obese

It is better to attempt to lose weight despite repeated failures at keeping the weight off, like in yo-yo dieting , than to not diet and remain obese, says a new study.

It is better to attempt to lose weight despite repeated failures at keeping the weight off, like in "yo-yo dieting", than to not diet and remain obese, says a new study.

The study compared lifelong obesity with the weight fluctuations of "yo-yo dieting", which is believed to be harmful.

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"It is clear that remaining on a stable, healthy diet provides the best outcome for health and longevity," the study's principal investigator, Edward List, a scientist at Ohio University, Athens, said.

"However, obese individuals commonly weight cycle-they have repeated intentional weight loss followed by weight regain, often called yo-yo dieting.

"While yo-yo dieting is thought to be harmful, there is little hard scientific evidence to support that," he said.

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List and his collaborators used mice to test whether weight fluctuation due to yo-yo dieting is as unhealthy as lifelong obesity.

Thirty mice, in groups of 10 each, received one of three diets: high fat, low fat or a yo-yo diet, consisting of four weeks of the high-fat diet followed by four weeks of the low-fat diet.

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The mice stayed on their respective diets throughout their life span. Measures of health, including body weight, body fat and blood glucose (sugar) levels, were obtained.

List said the yo-yo diet resulted in large fluctuations in these health measures, decreasing during the low-fat diet and increasing to a diabetic state during the high-fat diet.

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When health measures during the high fat and low-fat diet regimens of the yo-yo diet group were averaged, their "average health" was improved compared with obese mice that stayed on the high-fat diet, he reported.

Compared with the mice fed the high-fat diet, mice on the yo-yo diet lived nearly 35 percent longer.

"Surprisingly, the mice on the yo-yo diet had a similar life span to that of the low-fat-fed group," said List.

The results were presented at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston.

Source-ANI