Nelson Vergel
Founder, ExcelMale.com
Nutrition researchers in Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway set out to design a "healthy" Nordic diet around locally produced food items, like herring, good oils and bilberries (a relative of the blueberry). To test whether it was actually healthy, they prescribed the diet to people with metabolic syndrome — a precursor to diabetes — and compared them to others on an "average" Nordic diet higher in red meat and white bread.
m J Clin Nutr. 2013 Nov 20. [Epub ahead of print]
Health effect of the New Nordic Diet in adults with increased waist circumference: a 6-mo randomized controlled trial.
[h=3]Abstract[/b][h=4]BACKGROUND:[/b]The regional Mediterranean Diet has been associated with lower risk of disease.
[h=4]OBJECTIVE:[/b]We tested the health effects of the New Nordic Diet (NND), which is a gastronomically driven regional, organic, and environmentally friendly diet, in a carefully controlled but free-living setting.
[h=4]DESIGN:[/b]A total of 181 centrally obese men and women, with a mean (range) age of 42 y (20-66 y), body mass index (in kg/m2) of 30.2 (22.6-47.3), and waist circumference of 100 cm (80-138 cm) were randomly assigned to receive either the NND (high in fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and fish) or an average Danish diet (ADD) for 26 wk. Participants received cookbooks and all foods ad libitum and free of charge by using a shop model. The primary endpoint was the weight change analyzed by both completer and intention-to-treat analyses.
[h=4]RESULTS:[/b]A total of 147 subjects [81% (NND 81%; ADD 82%)] completed the intervention. A high dietary compliance was achieved, with significant differences in dietary intakes between groups. The mean (±SEM) weight change was -4.7 ± 0.5 kg for the NND compared with -1.5 ± 0.5 kg for the ADD (adjusted difference: -3.2 kg; 95% CI: -4.6, -1.8 kg; P < 0.001) for the completer analysis, and the difference was -3.0 kg (95% CI: -4.0, -2.1 kg) for the intention-to-treat analysis. The NND produced greater reductions in systolic blood pressure (adjusted difference: -5.1 mm Hg; 95% CI: -8.2, -2.1 mm Hg) and diastolic blood pressure (adjusted difference: -3.2 mm Hg; 95% CI: -5.7, -0.8 mm Hg) than did the ADD.
[h=4]CONCLUSION:[/b]An ad libitum NND produces weight loss and blood pressure reduction in centrally obese individuals. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01195610.
m J Clin Nutr. 2013 Nov 20. [Epub ahead of print]
Health effect of the New Nordic Diet in adults with increased waist circumference: a 6-mo randomized controlled trial.
[h=3]Abstract[/b][h=4]BACKGROUND:[/b]The regional Mediterranean Diet has been associated with lower risk of disease.
[h=4]OBJECTIVE:[/b]We tested the health effects of the New Nordic Diet (NND), which is a gastronomically driven regional, organic, and environmentally friendly diet, in a carefully controlled but free-living setting.
[h=4]DESIGN:[/b]A total of 181 centrally obese men and women, with a mean (range) age of 42 y (20-66 y), body mass index (in kg/m2) of 30.2 (22.6-47.3), and waist circumference of 100 cm (80-138 cm) were randomly assigned to receive either the NND (high in fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and fish) or an average Danish diet (ADD) for 26 wk. Participants received cookbooks and all foods ad libitum and free of charge by using a shop model. The primary endpoint was the weight change analyzed by both completer and intention-to-treat analyses.
[h=4]RESULTS:[/b]A total of 147 subjects [81% (NND 81%; ADD 82%)] completed the intervention. A high dietary compliance was achieved, with significant differences in dietary intakes between groups. The mean (±SEM) weight change was -4.7 ± 0.5 kg for the NND compared with -1.5 ± 0.5 kg for the ADD (adjusted difference: -3.2 kg; 95% CI: -4.6, -1.8 kg; P < 0.001) for the completer analysis, and the difference was -3.0 kg (95% CI: -4.0, -2.1 kg) for the intention-to-treat analysis. The NND produced greater reductions in systolic blood pressure (adjusted difference: -5.1 mm Hg; 95% CI: -8.2, -2.1 mm Hg) and diastolic blood pressure (adjusted difference: -3.2 mm Hg; 95% CI: -5.7, -0.8 mm Hg) than did the ADD.
[h=4]CONCLUSION:[/b]An ad libitum NND produces weight loss and blood pressure reduction in centrally obese individuals. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01195610.
