Effect of a weight-loss stabilization following a weight reduction with or without meal replacement on cardiometabolic risk in overweight women. A randomized controlled trial

Abstract

The objective of this study was to examine the effect of a 3-month weight-loss-stabilization phase (phase 2) following a successful 3-month weight-loss phase (phase 1), including a conventional energy-restricted diet with (MR) or without (C) meal replacement, on the cardiometabolic risk profile in 80 overweight women. In phase 2, both groups continued to significantly reduce weight and sustained the significant decreases in waist circumference and LDL-C. During the study, folic acid concentration significantly increased in the MR-group, while homocysteine concentration significantly worsened in the C-group. After 6 months, the number of women with hypertriglyceridemic waist was significantly reduced in both the groups, however with metabolic syndrome and metabolically unhealthy abdominal obesity (MUHAO) only in the MR-group. In conclusion, both strategies were equally effective for weight loss and weight-loss stabilization. The micronutrient supplementation with MR seemed to have an additional beneficial impact on the cardiometabolic risk in the MR-group versus the C-group.

Keywords:

• Weight-loss stabilization
• weight reduction
• abdominal obesity
• cardiometabolic risk factors
• weight management

Acknowledgements

We thank Anke Folberth-Vögele and Sandy Schäfer who were involved in conducting the trial, and all the participants in this study.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

The meal replacement products were provided free of charge from FormMed HealthCare AG, Frankfurt, Germany, which supported this work in part by a research grant.