ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the effects of a standard food-based low calorie diet and meal replacements on compliance,weight loss,and glycolipid metabolism in obese patients,and to provide an optimal nutritional weight reduction method for obese individuals in China.Methods Height,weight,waist circumference,body mass index (BMI),body fat,visceral fat in low calorie diet group (n =23) and meal replacements group (n =17) were assessed at baseline,4 and 8 weeks after the intervention.Fasting plasma glucose (FPG),triglyceride (TG),total cholesterol (TC),high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C),low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C),aspartate aminotransferase (AST),alanine transaminase (ALT),gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT),alkaline phosphatase (ALP),fasting insulin (FINS),and homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) were assessed at both baseline and 8 weeks after the intervention.Results Both low calorie diet and meal replacements led to significant decreases in body weight,waist circumference,BMI,body fat,and visceral fat(all P＜0.01) after 4 and 8 weeks.Body fat (P＜ 0.01) and total body water (P＜ 0.05) in low calorie diet group were decreased more obviously compared with those in meal replacements group at 4 weeks.However,there were no difference in all these parameters between two groups at 8 weeks (P＞0.05).Both groups experienced improvements in biochemical outcomes and metabolic indicators.TG,AST,ALT,GGT,ALP,FINS,and HOMA-IR levels were all decreased (P＜0.05 or P＜0.01) while HDL-C level was increased (P＜0.01) 8 weeks after standard food-based low calorie diet.FPG,TG,TC,LDL-C,AST,ALT,ALP,FINS,and HOMA-IR levels were declined 8 weeks after meal replacements(P＜0.05 or P＜0.01).TC,LDL-C,and ALT levels were more evidently to reduce in meal replacements group compared with low calorie diet group.Conclusions Present data suggest that meal replacements and low calorie diet may have a similar effect on weight loss,while meal replacements seems to obtain a better metabolic results.