Paleo diet: 2-year study shows benefit

Posted on Fri, 14 Mar 14

A new 2-year long study has found that dietary advise based on a modern paleo diet is better than a conventional low fat, high fiber diet.

A few short-term studies have suggested that a modern paleolithic (paleo) style diet may have stronger health effects than other popular dietary approaches, but until now there have been no long-term studies.

The new study tested a "paleo prescription" against more conventional healthy eating recommendations. A group of obese postmenopausal women where counseled in the paleo diet, which was based on lean meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruits, berries and nuts and excluded dairy products, cereals, added salt, refined fats and sugar. Another group were counseled in standard national "healthy diet" recommendations. Both diets were ab lib, meaning people did not control calories.

Initially there was a more pronounced fat loss in the paleo dieters (-6.5 vs. -2.6 kg at 6-months) which was also higher at 24-months (-4.6 and-2.9 kg). Similarly, abdominal obesity and triglyceride levels were better for the paleo dieters.

The paleo diet prescription also resulted in better overall nutritional intake with increases in protein, less dietary carbohydrate, more healthy fats including omega 3 fatty acids, less omega 6 fatty acids, and less dietary cholesterol.

This is good news for paleo diet fans; a long-term study now lends support to the modern paleo style diet being a very healthy way to eat.

Reference:

Mellberg C, Sandberg S, Ryberg M, et al. Long-term effects of a Palaeolithic-type diet in obese postmenopausal  women: a 2-year randomized trial. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2014 Mar;68(3):350-7.