Weight Management Research Paper

Summary

Consuming a diet high in fruits and vegetables is associated with lower risks for numerous chronic diseases, including cancer and cardiovascular disease.1,2 Even so, the impact of eating fruits and vegetables on weight management has not been widely researched. This brief will examine the evidence from available studies to determine whether eating fruits and vegetables can help with weight management. We are providing only the outcomes of these studies, but we encourage you to read the articles themselves to gain many more insights into the health aspects of eating fruits and vegetables.

The research that we cover in this brief will support the conclusion that replacing foods of high energy density (high calories per weight of food)

Research Review: Eating fruits and vegetables may help manage weight.

Losing weight can be very difficult, even for the highly motivated. In addition, maintaining an appropriate weight is difficult, particularly as a person ages. Health care professionals need to provide sound, scientific information when they advise people to eat foods that help them stay healthy, which includes maintaining a suitable weight. The research community is evaluating the effectiveness of a number of weight loss strategies; however, this brief examines only one strategy: the role that fruit and vegetable consumption may play in weight management.

Very few studies in the literature have investigated whether there is a direct relationship between eating fruits and vegetables and losing weight. The studies in this brief examined many issues such as the relationships of calories, volume of food eaten, types of food eaten (including fruits and vegetables), satiety, and weight reduction. Many of the studies reported on consumption of fruits and vegetables but did so in the context of a larger framework, such as preventing or treating high blood pressure or cardiac disease, but reported on weight loss

However, limitation of intake need not be based on calories. A feeling of being full is another reason that people stop eating.

People eat more food than they need for many reasons. The popular term "comfort food" succinctly provides one reason: people eat foods that make them feel good, that give them comfort. Some may eat to overcome fatigue; others may mistake thirst for hunger. This brief does not explore these issues, but instead looks at eating to the point of feeling full. Energy Density

Energy density is the relationship of calories to the weight of food (calories per gram).

Foods high in energy density have a large number of calories relative to their weight or volume (4 to 9 calories per gram of weight). Foods high in energy density include low-moisture foods like crackers and cookies or high-fat foods like butter and bacon.

Foods with medium energy density range from 1.5 to 4 calories per gram of weight. Examples include hard-boiled eggs, dried fruits, bagels, broiled lean sirloin steak, hummus, grape jelly, whole wheat bread, and part-skim