Trying to lose weight can improve health, study says

New research has proven that the effect yo-yo which often occurs with some diets has a good side and that is that confers long-term health benefits by reducing visceral fat, according to researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (Israel).

The yo-yo effect in dieting is that pattern in which people lose weight through lifestyle changes, but they gradually recover it over timeleading to repeated attempts at weight loss over time.

These cycles can affect not only body weight, but also body compositionparticularly visceral (intra-abdominal) fat, an active metabolic tissue linked to cardiometabolic diseases. Therefore, for many people, the key question is not whether to lose weight once, but whether repeated attempts carry long-term health benefits or risks.

According to the teacher Iris Shaiprincipal investigator of the study at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, dean of the Reichman University School of Sustainability, associate professor at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, and honorary professor at the University of Leipzig, Germany, these findings challenge the traditional approach to weight loss as a simple numbers game.

“Persistent commitment to a healthy dietary change creates cardiometabolic memory in the body –he assures–. “Repeated participation in a lifestyle program aimed at weight loss, even after apparent failure, in which a person regains all the weight lost on a previous diet, can lead to significant and sustainable health benefits over years, particularly through the reduction of harmful visceral (abdominal) fat.”

Hadar KleinPhD student and lead author adds that “body weight alone does not reflect changes in visceral fat or metabolic biomarkers. Even with weight regain, cardiometabolic health It can continue to improve, and success should not be defined solely by the scale – he notes – It is important to note that, even when weight loss is attenuated on a second attempt, the cumulative benefits for abdominal fat and metabolic health are substantial.

In the new study, published in the journal BMC Medicinethe researchers conducted a unique follow-up of 5 and 10 years of participants from two consecutive randomized controlled dietary trials (DIRECT-PLUS and CENTRAL), which together included approximately 500 participants.

Each trial lasted 18 months and included approximately 300 participants. One-third of the participants in the first trial also participated in the second. The trials examined interventions based on the Mediterranean diet and physical activity compared to control diets, with detailed MRI scans performed before and after each intervention.

The study revealed that, surprisingly, although participants began the second intervention with a similar body weight to the first, indicating complete weight regain, their abdominal fat profile and metabolic markers were more favorable, with improvements of approximately 15-25% compared to baseline, including greater insulin sensitivity and a more favorable lipid profile.

This finding indicates the existence of a “cardiometabolic memory” positive result of the previous intervention that persists even after weight recovery.

Additionally, although participants who rejoined the weight loss program lost less weight during the second intervention, they maintained better long-term health outcomes.

Five years after completing the second intervention, these participants showed a less weight regain and less abdominal fat accumulation compared to participants who had only participated in a weight loss program once.

The tests were carried out in the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in collaboration with the Dimona Nuclear Research Center, the Briuta Medical Center and the Soroka University Medical Center, all of them in Israel, together with researchers from Harvard and Tulane (United States) and Leipzig (Germany).