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The Role of Protein and Carbohydrates for Long-Term Weight Control: Lessons from the Diogenes Trial

  • Public Health and Translational Medicine (PW Franks, Section Editor)
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Abstract

Current therapies to manage obesity are based on energy restriction and physical activity promotion. However, the role of specific dietary components for long-term weight maintenance is under debate. This review aims to illustrate some lessons from the pan-European Diogenes study, a randomized, controlled dietary intervention study, which investigated the role of dietary protein and glycemic index (GI) on weight maintenance in overweight/obese European families. For 6 months, families were randomly assigned to five ad libitum weight-maintenance diets: low-protein (LP)/low-GI (LGI), LP/high-GI (HGI), high-protein (HP)/LGI, HP/HGI, and a control diet. The main result was that the HP/LGI diet was more successful for maintaining weight loss, and has beneficial effects on cardiometabolic risks. Outcomes regarding gender, age, the model of delivery, genetic factors, and benefits on insulin sensitivity, cardiovascular risk, bone turnover, and inflammation are also reported.

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Acknowledgments

The Diogenes trial was funded by the European Commission, contract no. FP6-2005-513946. The funding source had no role in the study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, or writing of the report. We are grateful to the project staff and all the contributors to the project. More information about the study can be found at: www.diogenes-eu.org. Also, the authors wish to express gratitude to the Universities of Maastricht (NL), Copenhagen (DK), and Navarra (E), as well as to the CIBERobn network (Instituto Carlos III, Madrid, Spain). The authors declare no conflicts of interest concerning this review.

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Conflict of Interest

Aurora Perez-Cornago declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Marleen A. van Baak declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Wim H.M. Saris declares that he has no conflict of interest.

J. Alfredo Martínez declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Arne Astrup has received research support through the European Commission, contract no. FP6-2005-513946; has received research support through grants from Arla Foods AMBA (DK), The Danish Dairy Research Foundation (DK), Global Dairy Platform (US), and The Danish Agriculture and Food Foundation (DK); and has received compensation from Global Dairy Platform (US), McCain Foods Limited (US), and McDonald’s (US) for service as a consultant.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nutrition, Food Science and Physiology, Center for Nutrition Research, University of Navarra, C/Irunlarrea 1, 31008, Pamplona, Spain

    Aurora Perez-Cornago & J. Alfredo Martínez

  2. Department of Human Biology, Nutrition and Toxicology Research Institute Maastricht, University of Maastricht, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Marleen A. van Baak & Wim H. M. Saris

  3. CIBER Fisiopatología Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBERObn), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain

    J. Alfredo Martínez

  4. Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sport, Faculty of Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 26, 1958, Frederiksberg C, Denmark

    Arne Astrup

  5. NUTRIM School for Nutrition, Toxicology and Metabolism, Department of Human Biology, Maastricht University, P.O.Box 616, 6200MD, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Marleen A. van Baak

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  1. Aurora Perez-Cornago
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  2. Marleen A. van Baak
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  3. Wim H. M. Saris
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  4. J. Alfredo Martínez
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  5. Arne Astrup
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to J. Alfredo Martínez.

Additional information

Aurora Perez-Cornago and Marleen A. van Baak have equally contributed to the present work.

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Perez-Cornago, A., van Baak, M.A., Saris, W.H.M. et al. The Role of Protein and Carbohydrates for Long-Term Weight Control: Lessons from the Diogenes Trial. Curr Nutr Rep 3, 379–386 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13668-014-0096-0

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