Many people try dieting as a New Year’s resolution but then go back to their old habits in a matter of days, weeks or month. Some end up trying again later in the year, which makes researchers wonder about the effects of yo-yo dieting on heart health. A new study has found that although trying and failing at healthy eating does impact heart health, it’s worth trying again.
The research on dieting
Researchers at Purdue University looked at the results of two studies on dieting and cardiometabolic markers.
Participants of one study ate the Mediterranean diet focusing on increasing health fats and eating plenty of fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
Participants of the other study followed the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet. This diet focused on controlling how much sodium they consumed, while eating plenty of fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
The people in both studies followed their diet for five or six weeks, then had their cardiovascular risk measured. Then they went back to their regular eating patterns for four weeks, followed by another cardiovascular assessment. Finally, the restarted their original diet for five to six weeks, followed by a final checkup.
The results
As was expected, when people were on their diet, their cardiovascular markers improved, and when they weren’t, their biomarkers were less favorable. But the good news is, once people started their healthy diets again, their metabolic markers improved again.
“These findings should encourage people to try again if they fail at their first attempt to adopt a healthy eating pattern,” says Purdue’s Professor Wayne Campbell. “It seems that your body isn’t going to become resistant to the health-promoting effects of this diet pattern just because you tried it and weren’t successful the first time.”
The results of the study were published in the journal Nutrients.
