Thursday, January 5, 2012
QD: News Every Day--Body fat is all about the excess calories
Consuming excess calories increases body fat, regardless of how many calories come from protein. High-protein diets do affect energy expenditure and storage of lean body mass, just not body fat storage.
To evaluate the effects of overconsumption of low-, normal-, and high-protein diets on weight gain, researchers conducted a single-blind, randomized controlled trial of 25 healthy, weight-stable adults in an inpatient metabolic unit in Baton Rouge, La. Patients were ages 18 to 35 with a body mass index between 19 and 30. The study was headed by George A. Bray, MD, MACP.
After consuming a weight-stabilizing diet for 13 to 25 days, participants were randomized to diets containing 5% of energy from protein (low protein), 15% (normal protein) or 25% (high protein). Only the kitchen staff who supervised participants while they were eating knew the assignments. There was no prescribed exercise, and alcohol and caffeine were restricted.
Patients were overfed during the last 8 weeks of their 10- to 12-week stay with the protein diets, which provided 40% more energy intake, or 954 kcal/d.
Body composition was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry biweekly, resting energy expenditure was measured weekly by ventilated hood, and total energy expenditure by doubly labeled water prior to the overeating and weight stabilization periods and at weeks 7 to 8. Results appeared in the Jan. 4 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Overeating produced significantly less weight gain in the low-protein diet group (3.16 kg; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.88 to 4.44 kg) compared with the normal protein diet group (6.05 kg; 95% CI, 4.84 to 7.26 kg) or the high protein diet group (6.51 kg; 95% CI, 5.23 to 7.79 kg) (P=.002). Body fat increased similarly in all three protein diet groups and represented 50% to more than 90% of the excess stored calories.
Resting energy expenditure, total energy expenditure, and body protein did not increase during overfeeding with the low-protein diet. Resting energy expenditure increased significantly with the normal and high protein diets (normal protein diet: 160 kcal/d [95% CI, 102 to 218 kcal/d]; high protein diet: 227 kcal/d [95% CI, 165 to 289 kcal/d]), as did lean body mass (normal protein diet: 2.87 kg [95% CI, 2.11 to 3.62 kg]; high protein diet: 3.18 kg [95% CI, 2.37 to 3.98 kg]).
"[C]alories are more important than protein while consuming excess amounts of energy with respect to increases in body fat," the authors wrote.
While the authors noted that low-protein diets resulted in less weight gain than normal- or high-protein groups when extra calories were eaten, the limits of a low-protein approach were evident when considering changes in body composition and energy expenditure.
With the low-protein diet, more than 90% of the extra energy was stored as fat. Because there was no change in lean body mass, a 6.6% increase in total energy expenditure reflects the energy cost of storing fat.
An accompanying editorial noted that low-protein diets are usually higher in empty calories and hidden fats, compared to protein-rich diets that encourage building lean muscle mass instead of fat.
"The results suggest that overeating low-protein diets may increase fat deposition leading to loss of lean body mass despite lesser increases in body weight," the editorial said. "Clinicians should consider assessing a patient's overall fatness rather than simply measuring body weight or body mass index and concentrate on the potential complications of excess fat accumulation. The goals for obesity treatment should involve fat reduction rather than simply weight loss, along with a better understanding of nutrition science."
Labels: diet, obesity, QD, research, weight loss
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Albert Fuchs,
MD
Albert Fuchs, MD, FACP, graduated from the
University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine, where he
also did his internal medicine training. Certified by the American
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full-time faculty member at UCLA School of Medicine before opening
his private practice in Beverly Hills in 2000.
And Thus, It Begins
Amanda Xi, ACP Medical
Student Member, is a first-year medical student at the OUWB School
of Medicine, charter class of 2015, in Rochester, Mich., from which
she which chronicles her journey through medical training from day
1 of medical school.
Zackary Berger
Zackary Berger, MD, ACP Member, is a primary care doctor and
general internist in the Division of General Internal Medicine at
Johns Hopkins. His research interests include doctor-patient
communication, bioethics, and systematic reviews.
Controversies in Hospital
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Run by three ACP
Fellows, this blog ponders vexing issues in infection prevention
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db's Medical Rants
Robert M. Centor, MD, FACP, contributes short essays contemplating
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DrDialogue
Juliet K. Mavromatis, MD, FACP, provides a conversation about
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Matthew Mintz, MD, FACP, has practiced internal medicine for more
than a decade and is an Associate Professor of Medicine at an
academic medical center on the East Coast. His time is split
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Everything
Health
Toni Brayer, MD, FACP, blogs about the rapid changes in science,
medicine, health and healing in the 21st century.
FutureDocs
Vineet Arora, MD, FACP, is Associate Program Director for the
Internal Medicine Residency and Assistant Dean of Scholarship &
Discovery at the Pritzker School of Medicine for the University of
Chicago. Her education and research focus is on resident duty
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Gut Check
Ryan Madanick, MD, ACP Member, is a gastroenterologist at the
University of North Carolina School of Medicine, and the Program
Director for the GI & Hepatology Fellowship Program. He
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difficult-to-manage esophageal problems such as refractory GERD,
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I'm dok
Mike Aref, MD, PhD, FACP, is an academic hospitalist with an
interest in basic and clinical science and education, with
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novel bedside imaging modalities, diagnostic reasoning, medical
informatics, new medical education modalities, pre-code/code
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William Hersh, MD, FACP, Professor and Chair, Department of Medical
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David Katz, MD
David L. Katz, MD, MPH, FACP, is an internationally renowned
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Just Oncology
Richard Just, MD, ACP Member, has 36 years in clinical practice of
hematology and medical oncology. His blog is a joint publication
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KevinMD
Kevin Pho, MD, ACP Member, offers one of the Web's definitive sites
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MD
Whistleblower
Michael Kirsch, MD, FACP, addresses the joys and challenges of
medical practice, including controversies in the doctor-patient
relationship, medical ethics and measuring medical quality. When
he's not writing, he's performing colonoscopies.
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Elaine Schattner, MD, FACP, shares her ideas on education, ethics
in medicine, health care news and culture. Her views on medicine
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researcher in cancer immunology, and as a patient who's had breast
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Mired in MedEd
Alexander M.
Djuricich, MD, FACP, is the Associate Dean for Continuing Medical
Education (CME), and a Program Director in Medicine-Pediatrics at
the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, where he
blogs about medical education.
More Musings
Rob Lamberts, MD, ACP Member, a med-peds and general practice
internist, returns with "volume 2" of his personal musings about
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Distractible Kind).
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David M. Sack, MD, FACP, practices general gastroenterology at a
small community hospital in Connecticut. His blog is a series of
musings on medicine, medical care, the health care system and
medical ethics, in no particular order.
Reflections of a Grady
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Kimberly Manning, MD, FACP, reflects on the personal side of being
a doctor in a community hospital in Atlanta.
The Blog of Paul Sufka
Paul Sufka,
MD, ACP Member, is a board certified rheumatologist in St. Paul,
Minn. He was a chief resident in internal medicine with the
University of Minnesota and then completed his fellowship training
in rheumatology in June 2011 at the University of Minnesota
Department of Rheumatology. His interests include the use of
technology in medicine.
Technology in (Medical)
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Neil Mehta, MBBS, MS, FACP, is interested in use of technology in
education, social media and networking, practice management and
evidence-based medicine tools, personal information and knowledge
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Peter A. Lipson,
MD
Peter A. Lipson, MD, ACP Member, is a practicing internist and
teaching physician in Southeast Michigan. The blog, which has been
around in various forms since 2007, offers musings on the
intersection of science, medicine, and culture.
Why is American Health Care So Expensive?
Janice
Boughton, MD, FACP, practiced internal medicine for 20 years before
adopting a career in hospital and primary care medicine as a locum
tenens physician. She lives in Idaho when not traveling.
World's Best Site
Daniel Ginsberg, MD,
FACP, is an internal medicine physician who has avidly applied
computers to medicine since 1986, when he first wrote medically
oriented computer programs. He is in practice in Tacoma,
Washington.
Other blogs of note:
American Journal of
Medicine
Also known as the Green Journal, the American Journal of Medicine
publishes original clinical articles of interest to physicians in
internal medicine and its subspecialities, both in academia and
community-based practice.
Clinical
Correlations
A collaborative medical blog started by Neil Shapiro, MD, ACP
Member, associate program director at New York University Medical
Center's internal medicine residency program. Faculty, residents
and students contribute case studies, mystery quizzes, news,
commentary and more.
Interact MD
Michael Benjamin, MD, ACP member, doesn't accept industry money so
he can create an independent, clinician-reviewed space on the
Internet for physicians to report and comment on the medical news
of the day.
PLoS Blog
The Public Library of Science's open access materials include a
blog.
White Coat
Rants
One of the most popular anonymous blogs written by an emergency
room physician.

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