Adherence to Healthy Diet Improves Cardiometabolic Risk, Even Without Weight Loss

WEDNESDAY, June 11, 2025 (HealthDay News) — A healthy diet improves cardiometabolic risk factors, even if not associated with weight loss (WL), according to a study published online June 5 in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.

Anat Yaskolka Meir, Ph.D., from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer-Sheva, Israel, and colleagues pooled data from three large long-term lifestyle WL-intervention trials, including the 24-month DIRECT (322 participants), 18-month CENTRAL (278 participants), and 18-month DIRECT PLUS (294 participants), to assess longitudinal changes in cardiometabolic risk markers.

The researchers found that among 761 trial completers, mean WL was −3.3 kg (−3.5 percent). Participants classified as successful-WL (relative-WL >5 percent) achieved the greatest improvements in multiple health indicators. However, the WL-resistant, who did not lose or gain weight, also showed some significant improvements, with increased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLc) and decreased leptin and visceral fat. Each 1-kg sustained lifestyle-induced WL was associated with improvements in lipid markers and insulin resistance (HDLc: +1.44 percent; triglycerides: −1.37 percent; insulin: −2.46 percent; HOMA-IR: −2.71 percent; leptin: −2.79 percent; intrahepatic-fat regression: −0.49 absolute-units). Each 1-kg sustained lifestyle-induced WL was also associated with modest but significant change in systolic and diastolic blood pressures (−0.26 and −0.36 percent, respectively).

“Our findings reframe how we define clinical success,” Meir said in a statement. “People who do not lose weight can improve their metabolism and reduce their long-term risk for disease. That”s a message of hope, not failure.”

One author disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

Abstract/Full Text