In 2020, researchers observed a difference in weight loss between the sexes, even when they adhere to the same amount of calories.
They revealed that men lost weight more easily than women.
The findings came from The Direct Trial, a project led by universities in Newcastle and Glasgow that involved nearly 300 men and women with type 2 diabetes.
They were given a low-calorie diet (850 calories a day) to see if this would help them lose 15kg quickly (about 2 to 3 pounds); an expected weight loss would reverse her diabetes.
“Both men and women had the same amount of calories, so there should be no confusion,” says Dr George Thom, a research dietitian at the University of Glasgow and co-author of the latest research.
The initial results, published in 2017 in The Lancet, found that half of the participants went on to remission of type 2 diabetes.
But a new analysis (based on studying participants for three more years, published in the journal Diabetic Medicine) found that while they were asked to adhere to virtually identical soups and smoothies, there was a marked difference between the sexes.
After a year of dieting, men had lost, on average, 11% of their body weight. In comparison, women lost 8.4%.
And the gap continued. After two years, men lost 8.5% of body weight and women lost 6.9%. So why can this be?
“We had asked people to stop all their normal foods and replace them with four smoothies or soups formulated a day, so it’s really pretty strict, and this‘ black and white ’approach to weight loss can fit- it is better for men, “said Dr. Thom.
In other words, they attend to it.
“This is possible because the diet culture is aimed at women from an early age, while men are more likely to feel the need to lose weight in middle age, so women are more tired of the diet, ”he adds.
Men also tend to have more weight in visceral fat (the invisible fat around vital organs), while women tend to have more subcutaneous fat (stored under the skin) around the thighs, bottom and hips.
This pattern of fat distribution in women tends to be protective against a number of metabolic health problems: a combination of type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity, according to several studies that have shown that subcutaneous fat is associated with better Health.
On the other hand, visceral fat seen in men leaves them at greater risk, especially for cardiovascular disease.
The result is that when men lose fat, it is visceral fat, which improves metabolic risk factors leading to a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity.
Dieting women are losing subcutaneous fat successfully, but without the same impressive results in weight loss, according to the new study, or in a marked improvement in health.