Just 300 Calories Less

 

It seems that there may be more health benefit to reducing our calorie intake than just losing weight - which is benefit enough in itself. A 2019 study done at the Duke University School of Medicine and published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology suggests that trimming just 300 calories from your diet each day is enough to reduce your risk of diabetes and heart disease. Even if you are already at a normal, healthy weight.

The study looked at 200 normal-weight adults under 50 years old who reduced their caloric intake by 300 calories per day over two years. After only six months participants showed significantly lower cholesterol, triglycerides, blood sugar and blood pressure. After two years, those who persisted on the lower calorie diet experienced a drop in measures of chronic inflammation associated with cancer, heart disease and dementia. They also dropped 10% of their starting body weight, 71% of which was fat.

"There's something about caloric restriction, some mechanism we don't yet understand that results in these improvements," said study author Dr. William Kraus, a cardiologist and professor of medicine at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, N.C. "We have collected blood, muscle and other samples from these participants and will continue to explore what this metabolic signal or magic molecule might be."

The findings show "that even a modification that is not as severe as what we used in this study could reduce the burden of diabetes and cardiovascular disease that we have in this country," Kraus said.

For most of us, 300 calories comes down to skipping maybe one daily snack and drinking fewer sodas and sweetened juices. How hard is that, really?